After the End
by penelope90
Summary: The dragonslayers and their mates/closer friends survived the end, now they live as a pack almost. But are some people tired of just surviving? {mild lemons} Lucy x ? Post-apocalyptic zombie world. [I don't own Fairy Tail] {NonCanon Pairings} Hiatus Over!
1. Chapter 1

They ran through the woods, branches and twigs alike snapping under their feet. They were in a tight knit formation, much like a wolf pack, the slowest towards the front, and the quicker, more agile in the back, ready to catch those who pass out or trip.

After the world as they knew it crumbled, the dragonslayers, their mates, and closest friends were among the strongest and were able to survive.

The zombie apocalypse had halted all technology and development in Fiore, perhaps even all of Earthland. Laxus, Gajeel, and Sting kept up the back of the pack. Natsu led the pack, as his nose was among the stronger ones and they'd decided he'd be the best one to choose a route to their next camp.

Lucy looked keeping her eyes trained in front of her, often shifting from side to side, watching out for any surprises lurking in the dark. She was towards the back of the middle of the pack, with Levy tied tightly to her back with some heavy duty rope. Lucy, along with most people in the group had bulked up in muscle over the last few months of chaos, her average height and newly toned muscles made it far easier to carry her small friend. Levy had passed out from sleep deprivation after her third day with no rest, and fourth hour of continuous running.

Honestly, Lucy would've let one of the dragon slayers carry Levy, however, almost all of them were exhausted since the entire group relied on their senses. They were usually the ones to stay up and keep guard, lead the pack, and carry their tired companions, so Lucy decided it was better for everyone if she helped out a bit, okay, maybe more than a bit. Levy's tiny frame and light weight made her easy to carry, despite her losing a lot of fat, she gained more muscle, though still lighter than she had been before the beginning of the end.

Lucy looked around once more, eyes brushing over her friends, who were really her family at this point. Natsu had huge bags under his eyes, everyone did, Cana had lost her glowing tan and was a sickly pale color, perhaps from withdrawal. Rogue hadn't changed much, though he seemed much more group oriented than he'd been before the end. Sting looked leaner, Yukino's hair was ragged, since she had to cut it off once a lurker had grabbed the small ponytail that she'd grown out since the apocalypse began. Cobra's hair no longer stood up like it used to, he had taken to tying it back into a ponytail. Gajeel was one of the few who hadn't really changed, along with Laxus, both of which physically looked about the same, but had become much more perceptive to the wellbeing of the others. Wendy had definitely grown a few inches, and her light, naïve nature had been replaced with a rough, but caring, attitude. Gray had become more of a quiet person than before, only speaking when spoken to. While Mira, who was on Laxus' back had been one of the only people who didn't get stronger, she had become depressed when both of her siblings got caught in the first few weeks of the crisis, she had been steadily growing weaker and weaker with each passing week, though Wendy suspected she was starting to get better and her shock would wear off soon.

Lucy pressed on, her chest heaving, as if her heart would stop any minute, but she knew it wouldn't, she'd been running like this for weeks, for hours and hours on end, searching for places to sleep or scavenge food. Levy's head seemed to always bob, constantly hitting Lucy's back, not that she minded, Levy was tired, and her best friend, Lucy would do anything for Levy. Natsu raised his left hand, signaling they were nearing the place he'd sniffed out. Then after another 2 minutes or so he lifted his left hand back into the windy, night air and waved it twice.

The group exhaled at the same time as they slowed to a light jog then a brisk walk. Soon a quaint farm house appeared in a small clearing, Lucy doubted it would comfortably fit all 13 of them, but it was safe, as Natsu had smell-checked it, so they would gratefully pack in on the floor like sardines if it meant a safe place to sleep, maybe there'd even be food.

They made their way up the wooden stairs onto the large porch and stepped aside as Rogue swiftly kicked the door in, the door stayed on its hinges but the locking mechanism broke off and stayed in place. The pack piled into the small house with a purpose and shut the door behind them. Lucy went off to check for and ration food, Sting scouted the house, Cana checked for running water, while Cobra searched for a toolbox to nail the door shut, they'd have to use the side door as a main entrance and exit. They had figured out a system for efficiency within the first few weeks of the end.

Lucy checked the fridge, knowing it had been off for a long time, but some sauces don't go bad at room temperature, and sauces could easily make bad food more edible. There were mounds of rotting meats in the back of the fridge, Lucy didn't even flinch as the smell rolled over her. She grabbed some hot sauce, bbq sauce, soy sauce, and ketchup, they all smelled fine to her. She moved on to the pantry, pleasantly surprised to find many canned soups and dried pasta in bulk, she figured they could stay holed up in the house for at least two weeks and be fine food-wise, if they rationed properly. She moved into the living room by the front door, where the rest of the group had rejoined.

"There's enough food for a couple of weeks." Lucy grunted, "there's running water, for now." Cana reported with a dull look on her face. "The front door is secure." Cobra input, Sting looked up from the floor, "there are three bedrooms, two with single king sized beds and one with two bunk beds." We could fit two or three people in each king size bed and one or two per single mattress in the bunk beds."

During the first month, they'd tried to separate the sleeping arrangements by sex, but after a certain amount of time they didn't seem to care anymore about modesty, they often bathed together, doubling or tripling per shower/bath to preserve possibly limited water supplies. Lucy and some other conscious mages began to strip and pile up their clothes in front of Yukino, who usually did the laundry. Lucy gently woke Levy up to ask if it was okay to take her clothes to have them washed, Levy sighed, and grunted while nodding her head, drifting back to sleep. As soon as everyone's clothes had been collected, Yukino wrapped her arms around the pile, and walked to the back of the one story home to the bathroom. Rogue came in and left her a kerosene lamp he'd found under the sink and promptly exited. Yukino began dumping the clothes into the tub, placing the cork to block the drain and began running the water. Only cold water was used for laundry, so they could preserve the gas for cooking and bathing, they'd all already figured out systems and methods of being more efficient. As the water ran, Yukino went looking for a laundry room to collect detergent, she couldn't seem to locate the laundry room and called for Rogue to find it for her as she returned to the bathroom, she stopped the water, which was already brownish grey and murky. Looking up when Lucy showed up at the door holding laundry detergent, "Rogue gave this to me to give to you, he's tired as hell so I sent him to bed. Want help?" Lucy bluntly drawled, feeling fatigue rack her body, but knowing Yukino felt it too she wanted to help out before she passed out.

"Yes please." Yukino's lean, pale frame leaned over the edge of the tub, her naked skin quivered each time she made contact with the cold porcelain or the chilled water. Lucy nodded and joined her, not reacting as her skin touched the freezing bathtub, she scooped out four scoops of detergent into the water and mixing it into the dark water, both of them rubbed at the clothes with sponges and their hands until they were satisfied with their work and set the dripping clothes they deemed "clean enough" into a pile between them.

After what seemed like hours but had probably been roughly 45 minutes, they were freezing but done with their task. They silently collected the damp clothes and brought them to the living room, Lucy juggled the lamp in one hand as she attempted to carry her lump of clothes, often coming close to tripping or dropping something, draping the wet clothes over couch arms and backs, on lamps and over the coffee table, and even though there were no more places to sit or space at all really, they were done for the night.

The girls checked the bedrooms, ready to crash for the rest of the night. In the master bedroom, Cana and Mira were wrapped around each other, in the second bedroom Gray and Gajeel shared one king size bed, sleeping next to each other but not quite cuddling. The third bedroom was a bit on the small side, in the first bunk bed to the left, Levy was curled up on the bottom bunk, while Rogue and Sting were hugging each other in their sleep on the top bunk, on the bunkbed to the right, cobra slept on the top bunk as Natsu and Wendy spooned on the bottom bunk. Yukino climbed in next to Cobra and almost immediately fell asleep. Lucy made one lap through all the bedrooms, making sure every single person was tucked under the cozy comforters that were on each bed. Once she was satisfied, she slid in next to Levy and closed her eyes, her body was ready to rest, but her mind was wide awake. Eventually Lucy's body won the fight and she drifted off into deep dreamless sleep.

The group was so used to being naked around each other they basically only wore clothes in memory of the time before the mess of the present, that and protection from the cold. Even though pretty much everyone who shared a bed with someone else huddled together for warmth, it wasn't sexual, despite them being completely bare. The pack had evolved from nakama to a group of tightly secured family. Even the few couples in the group (Cana and Laxus, Cobra and Yukino, and Natsu and Gray) rarely had sex drive for each other or anything really, there was simply rarely time or energy.


	2. Chapter 2

The sun warmed Lucy's back to the point that she groaned into Levy's hair, eventually stretching and opening her eyes, she couldn't have slept too long, the sun was up, but not high in the sky, it was probably about 9 in the morning. Lucy rolled out of bed, breathing in quickly as the cool air enveloped her skin. She padded out to the living room, which linked up to the kitchen and checked on the clothes, some of them were still partially damp on one side so Lucy turned them over and moved the still wet ones closer to spots the sun was heating. Lucy tossed the completely dry clothes and underwear into a single pile on the floor, she'd fold it after she sorted out breakfast.

After rummaging through the kitchen, Lucy found some sealed granola packages towards the back of the pantry. Opening one, sniffing it, then tasting it. Once she found that the granola was more or less fine, she laid a few bags of it on the counter with 11 bowls piled in 4 different stacks around it. As Lucy didn't feel hungry she didn't want to waste their limited resources, she always ate enough to keep her body going but tried not to stress eat, as she was prone to, which would waste food the pack would need eventually.

Lucy dipped a finger into the barbecue sauce bottle, savoring the taste of it. Smiling softly she set the bottle back down on top of the refrigerator with the others.

A creak resounded through the house and Lucy tensed, turning quickly to the entrance to the hallway that began in the living room. Lucy's muscles relaxed again once she saw Wendy and Levy shuffle from the hall, rubbing the sleep from their eyes and stifling yawns.

"Morning." Lucy hummed as she moved to begin folding clothes and sorting them into the outfits she had come to memorize over the past few weeks, "There's granola on the counter." Lucy told her two friends, who nodded and trudged into the kitchen eyes still slightly hooded with sleep.

Gray teetered down the hall into the living room, Lucy pointed to the kitchen. She chuckled when she realized that before it all started, Gray's stripping had always bothered them, but now they all did the same, more or less. Gray stared at her as she laughed to herself and shrugged, moving to the kitchen slowly.

After the other three had eaten, they were completely awake and asked Lucy what they could do to help out. She shrugged "If you could search the bedrooms for clothes that'd be cool, might as well try to find cleaner, newer clothes.." Lucy said as she checked the clothes she'd left to dry, she was content to find them no longer damp, as she folded and separated them.

Levy and Gray returned with some very large t-shirts and hoodies from the first and second bedroom, while Wendy had found some soft sweatpants and jeans in the third bedroom. They placed them stacked on a couch organized in different piles from t-shirts to hoodies and sweaters to bottoms. That way anyone who needed different garments could just pick out what they need in particular. Lucy slid on her undergarments and zipped up a dark blue fuzzy fleece hoodie that was so large it came halfway down her thighs, she then slid on some bright red sweatpants and walked out the side door onto the porch that wrapped around the small house, as Wendy, Levy, and Gray all sifted through their old outfits, picking what had been comfortable and new clothes that looked warm.

After about two minutes, Levy followed Lucy outside, and sat down next to her on the squeaky front steps of the farmhouse. Levy dawned some black and white checkered skinny jeans they'd scored from a night where they'd had to sleep in the dressing rooms of a department store. Over her jeans, Levy wore an oversized dark green hoodie, zipped all the way up. Both girls were barefoot, and had to wiggle their toes constantly in an attempt to keep them warm. "Hey, thanks for yesterday." Levy wrung her hands.

"Don't worry about it." Lucy stated as she kept her eyes trained on the forest, "It's what friends do." She smiled meekly, looked at Levy quickly before redirecting her attention back to the darkness in the woods.

Levy sighed, she knew how much Lucy did for the group, and knew the toll it took on Lucy. Levy knew since Lucy talked in her sleep. Lucy often muttered about not being strong enough, the people they had lost or left behind at Fairytail, or gibberish.

Honestly, most people in the group had heard Lucy mumble or ramble on in her slumber, though most couldn't actually interpret the garbled speeches. Levy had developed a talent for translating Lucy's nightly monologues, and when she couldn't sleep she'd just listen in on Lucy's conversations with herself.

"Wanna go back inside? It's cold." Levy reasoned.

"I just gotta think a bit longer." Lucy kept staring into the trees. "Okay, don't catch a cold!" Levy tried to sound cheery, like she used to, but found it difficult to bridge the gap between her past and present self.

Levy returned to the slightly warmer indoors, finding almost everyone else dressed in a mix of old and new clothes, "Is Luce okay?" Natsu asked from the recliner he and Gray cuddled on in the far corner.

"Yeah, Blondie's been hauling ass lately, like maybe even more than us slayers.." Laxus awkwardly pointed out. Levy's cheeks flushed, she really wished she had the answers everyone wanted.

"I.. I really just don't know." Her shoulders slumped. Everyone had changed after the end, but no one had anticipated Lucy changing so drastically. She was just as caring and considerate, but somehow harder, tougher, more serious. In the first few weeks of their pack forming after the apocalypse, Lucy had tried to keep things lighthearted, but that soon melted away, leaving behind anxiety, worry, and lots of alone time on behalf of Lucy.

Cana walked over and pat Levy on the back, "I'm sure she's just getting herself together, it'll probably wear off." Cana hopefully suggested, though it had been nearly two months of this behavior from Lucy.

The only one not present for the conversation was Mira, for the reason that she was still asleep.

"What're we talking about?" Lucy's voice drifted in from the side door as she shut it behind her, she barely shivered as she joined the pack and took a seat on a couch next to Laxus, Gajeel, and Yukino. "Nothing, just the general well being of the group." Wendy smoothly stretched the truth as if it were elastic, and of course Lucy bought it.

"Oh? Is everyone alright? What's wrong?" Lucy's face twisted with worry almost instantly, as if her biggest fear was one of the others not doing too well, which it might've been.

"We're doing okay, Mira's even starting to improve. How about you?" Wendy nonchalantly spun the question right back to Lucy, the girl really was developing a talent for being manipulative.

"A little tired, but okay, I guess." Lucy blandly shrugged.

"If you wanna sleep a bit longer I can do your duties for today? You've done so much for us all already," Cobra offered, almost desperately, everyone was anxious about Lucy's stressful condition and wanted to help her out somehow. Lucy was just about to decline when she suddenly noticed how heavy her limbs felt and how much her head throbbed, "Yeah... Maybe that'd be good.." Lucy sighed, a collective sigh was released in the room.

"Want me to stay with you?" Levy offered.

"Only if you have nothing else to do," Lucy replied in with an almost bashful face, Levy looked at the rest of the pack who shook their heads, Laxus even shot her a brief thumbs up.

"Nope, I'm scotch." Lucy giggled with a sad look on her face, she and Levy had first heard it from Erza who had explained the joke later with a steely face, "Scotch as in tape, as in clear as tape. So it means you're clear." Erza had quipped.

They'd lost track of some of their nakama during the initial outbreak of zombies mobbing the guild, the pack had no idea if Erza had survived or not, it was like that with many of their friends, Elfman, Lisanna, Happy, Carla, Juvia, and a few others had been with the pack when they were caught and turned. Lucy's eyes teared up as she thought of Erza. Levy silently led her back to the bottom bunk on the left of the third bedroom.

Levy tucked Lucy in and kissed her brow before she slipped under the covers herself, placing her head on Lucy's back, falling asleep to the beating of Lucy's heart and constant shifting of her body as she breathed.

The rest of the group sighed quietly when Levy and Lucy had made it to the bedroom. "She's pushing herself too hard, her body probably won't be able to take it much longer." Wendy stated, looking mildly distressed.

"I don't know if any of us can take this much longer.." Gajeel pointed out. Every member of the pack was worn out and their man power was spread thin.

"We don't even really have a long term plan, it's just survive for now." Gray worriedly said.

"What about after for now? We can't live like this forever." Natsu asked the group, he and Gray held hands tightly to comfort each other.

"Well, we should figure it out with everyone present, but on the other hand we shouldn't stress Lucy out more than already." Sting looked at Rogue.

"Well, she'd wanna have some say in it, so I guess we should just bring it up when she's awake, or less stressed.. Mira as well, they deserve some say in this." Rogue reasoned. Most of the other mages nodded their heads and hummed in agreement.

"So I guess we discuss it with them later, when they're both conscious." Laxus said to confirm. The group collectively 'mmhm'-ed, and went about exploring the house and the woods around it, mostly to kill time.

The air was chilled but it was warm enough for the mages to hang about the house and try to relax a bit. Natsu and Gray climbed onto the roof of the house and surveyed the area, not that there was much to survey, so they just sat on the roof and talked. Cana and Laxus held hands as they walked into the forest, as they checked the perimeter around the house to double check if they were safe enough for now. Sting and Rogue sparred in a grassy patch behind the house, keeping their attacks small scale so they didn't waste too much energy. Gajeel was lounging idly in a tree just on the outskirts of the clearing. Cobra and Yukino sat on the steps of the house, discussing what they thought their futures held, as they tried to remain optimistic. Wendy decided to stay inside, she was sitting idly on the kingsize bed next to Mira as Wendy brushed her long dark blue hair with a hairbrush she found a few weeks back.


	3. Chapter 3

*Lucy's POV*

I blink awake, I feel Levy behind me, I think I'm lying on her arm. That can't be comfortable for her.

I start to get up, looking over at Levy who is awake. Has she been awake this whole time? How long have I been asleep? "Sorry." I say, not 100% sure why I'm apologizing.

"Why?" Levy looks confused.

I shrug it off "Never mind."

"Hey, let's take a bath, your hair's a mess." Levy smiled, I nod as she pulls herself out of bed and slides out into the hall. I hate how cold the air is in comparison to the bed, though it's a little bit les cold now that Levy is gone. As I sit up I run a hand through my hair, yeah, Levy was right, what a mess.

I hear water start to run in the bath, i grudgingly stand up, but as I try to find my balance, I spot Gajeel outside. He's directly in view of the window, his bright red sweater practically a beacon, sitting maybe 40 feet away, though he's in a tree, sitting on a tree branch, with his back to the truck. And he's staring right at me, man, I must be worrying the group.

I have to assume he's keeping a watch on me, most likely because the pack is worried about me. I just lately I have been somewhat... Different. I should just be okay. I should just show them I'm okay. That's all they want from me, right?

I stick my tongue out at Gajeel and scrunch my face, the way young children used to before all of this. I know Gajeel is practically my brother, but fuck me if he isn't hot as hell.

Same with most of the pack, it seems like everyone who is in our pack is exceptionally attractive. Even Mira was a hard 9 before this whole mess. I used to fantasize about a few of my fellow survivors before shit hit the fan, but they were just daydreams for whenever i got bored. There's no time for that these days, sexual tension is definitely building, in all of us I think, save for Wendy. I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop and for someone to randomly pounce, not the couples of course, but the others who don't have a chance of actual skin-to-skin contact release. Maybe **I** should pick someone, not to date but just to release tension with, it wouldn't be so bad, we could go farther out in the woods or maybe use the all shed about 100 yards behind the house, it's technically in the forest, but at least the chances of being interrupted are small..

I realized I was still looking at Gajeel, who was now making the same childish face right back at me. I grin softly and make my way to the bathroom.

Oh Mavis. The air in the bathroom is humid and heavy, and amazing. The water's steaming and hot, I'm a little excited since I haven't bathed in like 2 weeks. Levy, who's already in the tub, is holding a hairbrush she must've borrowed from Wendy. She smiles up at me and makes a motion with the brush. "Yeah, you can brush it, I don't really care that much anymore anyway." I said, shrugging it off, though it was a pointless notion, since Levy already knows how much I love it when someone else brushes my hair.

After I strip, I step into the tub, there's a lot of dried blood and caked dirt on my skin, mainly on my hands, arms, face, and back. I look back at Levy, she's a little less filth caked than I am, but there's more blood on her face. Is it hers? I wet my hand and rub her face a little gently, moving slowly around her face. I hope that isn't all her blood, how did I not notice it before? After more or less liquefying all the gunk on her face and rinsing it off, I find no major head wounds or facial cuts or scrapes. I sigh, thank Mavis she isn't seemingly hurt at all. As I sigh, I lean back into Levy, just relieved that nothing too serious has happened to Levy, she's my closest friend, we're sisters in all but blood.

When I sit back up I hear Levy rinsing the left over filth off her face, and I wet my hair quickly.

Levy brushes my hair gently, it's super comforting, probably the best sensation I've felt since the apocalypse began. With the warm water cradling me, I feel like I could die right here right now, and I wouldn't even mind. After about 10 minutes or so, Levy declares she has finished brushing my hair, so I grab the soap bar and start lathering up my hands.

Wendy walks in, "Hey when you're done can you leave the water in the tub? I wanna bathe." She asked dully.

"It's gonna be cold by then.." Levy said blankly, "You can join us right now if you like, it'll be a bit of a squeeze though." she offers.

"Nah, it's fine, I'll just run another one later and bathe with Mira." Wendy shrugged as she walked out into the hall.

00000

*General POV*

Lucy and Levy sat in the bath until the water turned cold, talking and scrubbing their own skin and each others, "I almost forgot what my hands looked like when they aren't covered in blood or dirt." Lucy held her newly cleaned hands up to the sunlight that filtered through the open door.

Levy smiled softly as she pushed herself up and stepped out of the bath. "Ah, I forgot to find towels!" She exclaimed in a hushed voice, speeding out of the bathroom and began to rummage through the house. Returning about three minutes later with several towels stacked in her tiny arms. She places the towels in a stack in the corner of the bathroom and plucked two soft, fluffy towels from the top, tossing one to Lucy who had just exited the bath and pulled the plug.

Lucy giggled and unfolded the towel, throwing it back over her head and drying off her hair. She could feel a lot of her tension and worry disappear, she felt that perhaps she really had just needed some down time to collect herself.

Once both girls were dry, they put on the clothes they'd stripped out of when they'd enter the bathroom and went to the kitchen.

"... Oh oh! And remember that time that Natsu-"

"What about Natsu?" Natsu interrupted Lucy's story as he and Gray strode back inside. "Nothing, nothing," Lucy put her hands up, "we're having pasta for lunch, it might be plain, I haven't checked the pantry for pasta sauce yet." She updated the boys.

"Yeah, there's a few jars in here!" Levy updated them. "Sweet, can you tell everyone to come inside in like 15 minutes?" Lucy asked Natsu and Gray.

"No prob." Gray said as he dragged Natsu back outside.


	4. Chapter 4

The pasta was the first hot meal the pack had had in roughly a month. Almost everyone groaned and moaned in happiness when they ate. Mira was even present, usually when she was awake she'd go off on her own and eat, but on this day in particular she with the rest of the pack. Mira was sitting between Lucy and Sting, eating quietly, answering questions directed to her with a small smile and a curt "yes" or "no". Lucy kept retrying to engage Mira in small talk, but it didn't carry for very long. But they all figured that was fine, at least Mira had joined the group.

The group seemed more at ease now that Lucy had visibly relaxed and seemed to have mellowed out. Rogue kept paying her compliments on the pasta, to which she replied "It's instant, dude, it's not that special."

Wendy even joined in the conversation which she hardly ever did anymore. Sting joined in too, roughly smacking Lucy's back thanking her briskly, "Good job, this was enjoyable."

By the end of the meal, Lucy was really tired of people telling her how well she'd cooked, since she honestly hadn't done much, but was glad they were in high spirits so she let it go.

As soon as she finished Wendy stood up, "Mira, wanna take a bath?"

Mira looked up from her almost empty bowl, "Yeah, okay." She murmured, standing up and following Wendy to the bathroom.

"I'll do dishes today." Cana volunteered. She got up, and filled the kitchen sink with cool water, pouring fair amounts of soap into it in preparation for her task.

"I'm gonna take a walk," Lucy said, "alone." She finished as around half her friends stood up to join her. They sat back down with halfheartedly downcast faces, "I won't be out too long."

Lucy sighed as she walked back to her and Levy's bunk and grabbed her key ring from under the bed, where she must've dropped it the night before. "Sorry guys," she whispered to her spirits, hoping they'd understand she had been too tired to even notice dropping her keys on the hardwood floor that night.

She slipped her keys into the pocket of her huge sweater and bolted out the side door, spiriting across the grass, happy to feel the air moving around her and swaying her hair. Lucy stopped and dropped down to the grass, lying on her back and breathing in the clean smell of nature. Rolling around for a minute before standing back up, Lucy brushed off herself and strolled past the first few trees into the forest.

The way the sunlight filtered through the trees, was truly almost magical, "Nothing can ruin this." Lucy put her arms up, gesturing to the beautiful scene nature had allowed her to view. Almost as if she'd jinxed it, Lucy heard a low groan from her far left. She turned her head sharply, assuming her fight or flight stance, just as a tiny lurker came out from behind some thick bushes.

The zombie had short curly black hair chopped into a bob, and skin that Lucy knew had once been a beautiful, radiant caramel, but was now patchy and sickly green, grey, and brown colored. She stood at roughly 4 foot 5, and wore turquoise denim shorts and a tank top that was once white, but was now painted and splattered in shades of red, brown, and black. The little girl wore a single lime green sandal, and a sports watch on her right wrist. Lucy felt her insides twist, she hadn't seen a child-turned-lurker in a while. The girl slowly limped towards Lucy, she was about 35 feet away, slowly closing in. The lurker child was missing a chunk of skin on one leg, it's calf, and had dried blood caking half of its face. Her big brown eyes were glazed over and rotting. Lucy cringed, falling to her knees as the little girl made its way painstakingly slow, 20 feet from Lucy.

Children had always been Lucy's weak spot, in every child she not only saw her younger self, but also the child she would never have, could never have. After the apocalypse Lucy had told herself she could never bring a child into the world, not the way it had become, she could never do something so cruel. But a part of Lucy that had always yearned to be a mother, to have children to love and coddle, it still wanted kids, and it made Lucy mourn her unborn children in her own silent way, in the back of her mind.

Lucy kept her eyes on the lurker before her, it was 15 feet and closing. Numbly fumbling for her keys, Lucy pulled Cancer, summoning him quickly.


	5. Chapter 5

*Gajeel's POV*  
"What the hell is she doing?" I mutter as Bunny girl does nothing when a fucking zombie starts coming at her. It's slow, painfully slow, which I guess is good for Lucy, maybe she just wants the thing to get closer to her so she doesn't have to come at it to attack it. I am proven incorrect as Lucy continues to do nothing, but you know what she does do? Fall to her knees! What the hell is up with her? I get ready to jump down to get rid of it from my perch in a huge oak tree. It's surrounded by various evergreen trees, it's actually a sweet place to be, not really under these circumstances though. I freeze up as a thought hits me, "that's a fucking kid...", bunny has always been weak towards children, she's not just freezing up, she's probably having a fucking panic attack as her little heart is fucking breaking. Is she gonna be able to protect herself?  
As I'm about to drop down and help out, bunny, hand shaking, grabs her keys and calls out Cancer. He swiftly appears, and eliminates the lurker, chopping the top of its head off, letting the body drop to the forest floor. He turns back to Lucy and pulls her back to her feet and into a hug, rubbing her back softly before shimmering back to his world.  
*General POV*  
Gajeel could smell her tears, as Lucy shuffled closer to the zombie child, kneeling next to it and grabbing it's hand. The pack had more or less desensitized themselves when it came to the zombies, but it seemed Lucy couldn't desensitize herself to the child zombies. She didn't have the heart to. Gajeel could only watch as Lucy appeared to have a complete mental melt down, while holding onto the fallen zombie's hand. It was almost as if Lucy didn't even notice the dead child's brain matter was spilled on the forest floor and her skin was rotting off. All Lucy seemed to see was a small dead child, alone in the woods and alone in the world. Gajeel crouched, motionless from his vantage point, unsure of what to do, should he head back to the house or should he stay and comfort her, or perhaps just stay in the tree and quietly watch over her until she returned to the house on her own.  
Before he could make up his mind, Rogue, who had apparently also followed Lucy, stepped out from the shadows behind a tree and slowly made his way to Lucy, making sure to smirk up at Gajeel as he neared this target.  
Rogue gently tapped Lucy's shoulder, causing her to turn around sharply, somehow defensively but also in a predatory manner. Even with snot running from her nose and her face wet with smeared tears, Rogue found himself breathless at how stunning Lucy was. She looked up at him, her face smoothing, dropping the almost primal defensive face she had donned seconds earlier as Rogue pulled her to him. "It's okay, I promise it's alright." He muttered into her hair. Her sobs intensified as she clutched the front of his shirt and pulled him closer to her. Lucy wanted shriek and yell and scream, but something was holding her back, she couldn't be completely sure if it was the fact that her pack was in the house about 300 yards or so away, or that she wasn't sure she had the energy, but Lucy refrained from screeching at the top of her lungs and proceeded to let sobs rack her body.  
Gajeel felt powerless from his place up among trees, he couldn't do anything but leave and head back to the house, but he didn't want to leave Lucy alone with Rogue, his possessive instincts simply wouldn't allow that, so Gajeel stayed put and watched in discomfort. "I just..." Lucy started, "I just wanted her to be okay." Lucy continued, not quite making sense, "Her life just started! L-look at her! She had a family, w-what if they're out there l-looking for her, and h-here she is! DEAD!" Lucy kept sobbing as she tried to speak. "What if she was loved?" Lucy concluded, her sobs slowly grew quieter until she was only whimpering, and Rogue lifted her up bridal style. Rogue looked back up at Gajeel, but he no longer had a cocky victory smile, in its place was a worried grimace. With a jerk of his head, Rogue indicated Gajeel should quickly return first. As Gajeel jumped from tree to tree, Rogue began the trek back to the house as she continued to whimper.


	6. Chapter 6

*Rogue POV*

I just wanted to make sure she was safe, but she took care of herself, I guess. When I saw her crying I couldn't stand back and just watch anymore, she needed some sort of emotional tether.

So yeah, I helped her out, but no way do I actually have feelings aside from pack mentality for Lucy. That'd be weird, right?

I did feel kinda satisfied teasing Gajeel, his huge crush on Lucy is so obvious, I just like getting in his way. Nothing more, nothing less. But when I saw her having a full out break down, of course I had to help, she's a good friend!

She's softly whimpering as we make our way back to the house, I don't know how to comfort her or talk to her, so the walk to the house is awkward to say the least. I want to comfort her, I really don't know how though, so I just did what felt right. I strain my neck a bit, but i reach the crown of her head and I press a soft kiss into her slightly damp hair. I don't know what I was expecting, but I can't help but feel a little disappointed that she had no reaction. She continued to wipe her tears and stifle sniffles and sobs.

We're almost at the house when Lucy taps my shoulder signaling that I should put her down. She silently brushes off her sweatpants, straightens her sweater, and dabs at her eyes, turning to me briskly, "How red are they?" Her voice is quiet but strong.

"What?" I put my hands up defensively, not quite sure what she's talking about. "My eyes, how red are they?" She clarifies.

"Kinda light pink," I say after grabbing her shoulders and inspecting her eye whites. She sighs deeply, shrugs me off, and exits the canopy the trees provide and enters the grassy backyard behind the house.

"Don't tell anyone." Lucy looks over her shoulder at me. I nod my head profusely and jog up to catch up to her.

"Thanks." She whispers firmly .

She leaves it at that, and sprints up to the house, leaving me out alone in the yard.

"No problem..." I reply in a dazed monotone as Gajeel jumps from a nearby tree branch, landing about 20 feet from me.

0000

*Gajeel POV*

After I heard the door close behind bunny girl, I jump from the tree branch I'd been waiting for them on. Rogue looks at me with tired eyes.

"What the hell man?" His fatigue turns to confusion "What?" He asks, throwing his hands up almost comically.

"Why the fuck were you following bunn-Lucy?" I almost used her pet name in a serious conversation, I need to be serious to win this argument I'm about to start.

"I was worried about her, why the hell were you?" Rogue combats, crossing his arms smugly.

"I was worried too." It's not a lie, just a stretch of the truth, the truth being I'm sort of obsessed with her and after watching her from the corner of my eye I could tell something was off today..

"Uh-huh.." Rogue has a shit eating grin on his face. He thinks he won. Shit, he did win. I sigh and make my way to the house, with Rogue in tow, what a dick.


	7. Chapter 7

*General POV*

After Lucy entered the house, she was promptly tackled by Natsu, who was giggling and scrambling away from Gray, apparently they were mid-tickle war. "Luce! Help!" Natsu cried as he and Lucy plummeted to the floor as Gray pounced on top of the person pile, tickling both Lucy and Natsu, who were both crawling at the floor trying to crawl away from the menace that was Gray. She was quickly distracted from her inner turmoil.

After about two minutes both Natsu and Lucy were bucking and gasping, trying to escape Gray's wrath in order to breathe. Finally, Gray's fingers cramped up and he got up, going to sit on the couch to catch his breath from all the energy it took to keep both Lucy and Natsu down.

Lucy and Natsu were left panting and heaving on the floor, Natsu on his back and Lucy lying on her side, both looking like they had just run a marathon. Just then, Gajeel shoved the side door open stomping into the hallway and tripping over Natsu's long legs. "Hurg-!?" Gajeel grunted as he fell to the floor, landing on something soft and warm.

"What the fuck, flame brain?!" Gajeel muttered as he pushed himself up with his hands, opening his eyes quickly, before realizing what was really going on.

Gajeel had tripped over Natsu's legs and fallen partially on to Lucy, his head was just above her breasts... Which meant he had originally landed on them... Which meant he was in big trouble... He flinched and looked up at Lucy, she didn't look angry at all, in fact, she looked almost like she was enjoying herself. Though Gajeel was unaware her sheen of sweat and blush was from the tickle mayhem she'd just survived.

Lucy was still panting and heavily blushing, though she was not 100% aware of Gajeel's predicament. Of course she had felt him fall on her, but in her state of dazed fatigue, she wasn't totally sure where he had fallen. Gajeel, unaware that Lucy had been fatigued before his misstep, blushed deeply and sat up, unintentionally straddling Lucy.

"Bunny girl, what's up, why you so winded?" He nonchalantly asked, hoping maybe she'd react in some way to let him know if she wanted him the way he wanted her.

"Gray..." She slowly wheezed "What?" Gajeel was caught off guard, 'What the hell happened when I was outside?' He thought to himself.

"Gray... Tickled me.. To death." Lucy whispered, she could feel her breath coming back to her, "Fuck you, Gray!" She whisper yelled from her place on the floor in the hall, he chuckled from his spot on the couch.

"Sorry, Lucy, I'm taken." He grinned as he leered over at Natsu.

"Damn right." Natsu groaned as he pushed himself up onto his elbows, got up, and stumbled to the couch.

Lucy giggled as she watched Natsu sit on Gray and start to cuddle him, she looked back up at Gajeel and noticed the position they were currently in. Gajeel, was still frozen in place, staring at Lucy's chest with glazed eyes. He was so distracted he didn't even register that Rogue hadn't followed him inside.

Lucy quickly realized just how intense the look in his eyes was and sat up, pushing him off her briskly.

"What gives, bunny?" Gajeel teased, Lucy shot him a mild glare.

"I sure don't." She smirked, reveling in the dazed look on Gajeel's face. Lucy sat back, propping herself up on her hands and straightening her legs out in front of her. Licking her lips slowly she hissed "don't fuck with me, Gajeel."

She knew exactly what she was doing to him, and honestly Lucy found it incredibly entertaining and a little hot. He stared at her with an almost dumbstruck look on his face, Lucy decided she had had enough fun, and stood up quickly, walking to the kitchen to open and heat up some canned soup for herself.

"I CALL NOT MAKING DINNER TODAY! Every man for themselves!" Lucy hollered, making sure her voice carried through the house, as she grabbed her now heated soup and a spoon from the kitchen, rubbing the spoon on her sweatpants to ensure its cleanliness. Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, Mira, Levy, and Wendy all groaned their resentments from their different places in the house and stumbled over to the kitchen.

"Wait-" Natsu froze as he began heating his own soup in his hands, he turned his head to the side door and put the soup down carefully but quickly.

"What is it?" Lucy asked, only to be shushed by the three dragonslayers present.

"They're outside!" Wendy urgently whispered. Everyone ran outside to where Rogue, Sting, Yukino, Laxus, Cana, and Cobra were positioned.

"It's bad, not a herd, but not just a few!" Laxus shouted to the group. Lucy summoned Loke and Virgo to help the others hold off the lurkers, and Gemini to become another Laxus to carry Mira, who was growing stronger slowly, but still wouldn't be able to run so hard for so long.

"Oh shit..." Gajeel contributed before joining the fight as Lucy, Wendy, and Levy ran back inside to grab supplies. Levy ran straight to the kitchen, grabbing some reusable grocery bags from under the sink and roughly collecting cans of soup and dropping them into the two reusable bags she had found, avoiding the pasta, since they'd need water in order to be cooked, while the soup could simply be heated by Natsu.

Wendy had run to the bathroom to find medical supplies they might need, rummaging through the cabinets, grabbing aspirin, bandages, and other basic supplies, just incase she couldn't heal someone, due to her death or excessive weakness. Lucy was running through the house, checking the rooms for possibly important items her friends might've left behind.

"All good! Let's go!" Levy's voice rang through the house.

"Kay!" Wendy replied. Lucy paused, finding Natsu's scarf folded up neatly on the pillow on the bunk he'd slept in, grabbing it swiftly before sprinting out the house behind Levy and Wendy.

Lucy closed Loke and Virgo's gates, but left Gemini's open in order for them(as Laxus) to carry Mira as the pack ran.

000000

*Wendy POV*

I should've been able to hear them earlier. I should have been able to help sooner, I can't make the same mistakes next time. I'll just have to move on and learn from my mistakes. I suppose I had been too distracted to hear the zombies outside.

We've only been running for about an hour, but it feels like it's been years. Lucy's obviously hauling more ass than she can carry, so to speak, since she still has Gemini carrying Mira, who should actually be well enough to start running long distance on her own soon, maybe a week.

I look back for a split second to see Lucy, sweat sliding down her face, legs pumping, pushing herself to keep running, and Gemini next to her, doing the same. She's definitely exerting more magical and physical energy than she seems to have at the moment, she did had three golden celestial keys open for a while earlier.

"We need to stop!" I call to Natsu, he quickly signals to the pack as we regroup. "Where are we headed? Do we have a goal right now or are we free falling? Some of us need to rest. Like right now." I said, Lucy couldn't keep going like this, but now that I said it, Gray and Laxus look like hell.

00000

*Gray POV*

I feel like there are razor blades stuck in the inside of my throat, every breath of cold air is fucking torture. What the hell is wrong with me? Do I have a cold? Is this strep? What if it's some disease we can't get meds for and Wendy can't fix it and I die!?

Wendy's looking at me, can she tell I'm dying? Oh god, what will Natsu do without me? Will he move on? Maybe he and Rogue will hit it off when I'm dead. And I'll be a vengeful spirit and come back as a zombie, and bite them both. Fuck them. I turn to Natsu "Fuck you." I groan, shit I sound wasted. The world is tipping over, the colors are dimming. Am I dying?

00000

*General POV*

Gray had been muttering to himself for all of 39 seconds before he'd turned to his boyfriend and said "Fuck you." He then proceeded to pass out.

"What the fuck?" Gajeel said as he caught Gray's limp body.

"Was he delirious? Does he have a fever?" Natsu asked worriedly, Wendy checked Gray's vitals with her magic.

"Yeah he's got a cold. Just a regular cold that's been stressed by all the running." She calmly replied.

"Is there a place nearby we can stay?" Yukino let go of Cobra's hand to bite her pinky fingernail.

"I can check really quick. I can survey the area faster than Natsu can run around it." Wendy volunteered herself before using her magic to boost her self into a nearby tree and continuing to boost her jumps until she reached the top of the tree. The view was as it should've been, green, leafy, natural, Wendy was not particularly impressed. She spotted a hunting cabin roughly 2 kilometers northwest of the group.

"That way" She said as she pointed in the direction of the cabin. Lucy gave a tired smile before taking one of Gray's arms and slinging it around her shoulder to help Gajeel support the weight, as the pack trekked through the forest to the cabin that was even smaller than the farmhouse.


	8. Chapter 8

*Natsu's POV*

After Gray briefly cursed me out, I was ready to fight him. Nothing too serious, just play fighting, nothing he could actually get hurt in. But then he fainted, so I knew there was something wrong, Wendy said he has a cold, but that didn't calm me at all. Even if it's just a cold, it might be tough to recover from, with how often we move around, and how cool the late autumn air is. What if the cold spreads and none of us can protect each other since we'd be sick. I hope it doesn't spread. I hope he gets better soon.

Wendy said we're going to a cabin a while away. The ground is muddy and getting a footing is hard. I'm scrambling as we walk to hurry along, so I've slipped and fell into the mud twice, the front of my pants and sweater are coated in mud. It's in my hair, coating my teeth, and slicking the back of my neck. But it could be worse, we're walking now, but if we had to run, I'd already be 100% covered in mud.

I look back at Lucy and Gajeel who are carrying Gray, they're stomping hard sticking themselves into the ground and using Gray's weight to anchor themselves as they march along, to avoid my fate in the mud. Gray's face is bright red from the fever, I'm guessing, he looks so tired. It's actually kind of cute, like a toddler who caught their first cold. Maybe more like a tired cat that was dragged from the foot of someone's bed. Speaking of cats, I miss Happy. I bet Wendy misses Carla. I try not to think about it too much, I'll see him when this is all over. If I don't make it.

I can smell the wood of the cabin Wendy spoke of, we're close.

0000000

*General POV*

The pack cautiously approached the cabin, "I can't see anything through the window. Too dark." Yukino whispered. "Do you smell anything? Hear anything?" She turned to Gajeel. He picked Gray up from his ragdoll position between Lucy and himself, and dropped him into Lucy's arms.

Lucy's knees buckled before she caught herself and straightened herself, bearing Gray's weight on her own.

Gajeel walked to the front door of the tiny cabin, placing his ear against the door. "I don't hear anything..." He said uncertainly.

"It's too late for this shit." Laxus huffed his way to the door and kicked it open, backing up immediately and awaiting an attack, before signaling Natsu to provide light, just to double check.

Once the cabin had been cleared and proclaimed free of the undead, Lucy left Gray to Gajeel and let Gemini go back to the spirit world, as Mira walked to a far corner of the single room cabin. She sat down, leaning against the wall and began to doze off, after smiling over at Lucy, who dropped to the floor next to Mira, behind the musty old couch near the kitchenette. Gray was unceremoniously dropped onto the couch by Gajeel, who moved to the corner of the cabin behind the door and kept an eye on everyone. Natsu and Wendy checked on Gray who was still unconscious, in a sleep like state of being. Levy wiggled over to Lucy and cuddled with her, smirking slightly as she heard a low growl from Gajeel, so quiet, she was sure only she could've heard it. Yukino and Cobra were sleeping on the floor in front of the kitchenette, Laxus and Cana were leaning on a wall near the door, adjacent to Gajeel, while Rogue and Sting were speaking with each other in hushed tones near the couch.

"Wait a motherfucking minute!" Lucy sat up quickly, causing Levy's head to hit the ground heavily, "Sorry!" Lucy pat Levy's head as she sat back up. Levy halfheartedly scowled as Lucy hopped up animatedly and walked over to a section of the wall that stood out strangely. She groped the wooden panels for a handle and quickly located one, "Oh, fuck yeah," she grinned proudly as she pulled down a pull out bed from the wall. "Nyh!" She tiredly and happily grunted as she boosted herself onto the bare mattress, turning over only to ask, "Is there a linen cupboard? Or anything? An extra blanket?" "I can check!" Levy offered, still rubbing her head, getting up and exploring the tiny wooden cabin.

"Finally!" Lucy sighed from the pile of sheets, blankets, and comforters that had become the pullout bed. Her hand snaked from the mound of pillows and blankets to grab Levy's hand and pull her under the covers. "Sorry guys," Lucy offered the group, "I would let someone else have the bed, but..." She paused, not particularly having a good reason. Not that anyone else cared, they were worn out despite it not being too late at night. "Night, bitches." Cana nonchalantly called from her place in Laxus's lap. "Night." All the conscious mages replied simultaneously.


	9. Chapter 9

Cana awoke with her head on Laxus' bouncing chest as he seemed to be writhing on the floor, hacking out a lung. Cana pushed herself up, quickly sitting up to check Laxus's temperature.

"Wendy!" Cana called desperately, looking over to Wendy, who was rubbing the sleep from her eyes, next to the couch where Gray was breathing loudly, though Cana couldn't tell if he was breathing hard cause he's sick or because he was snoring a bit.

"Laxus?" Wendy asked Cana, she looked at the man in question, who was lying next to Cana and loudly, almost obnoxiously coughing, slowly waking up everyone in the cabin.

"What. The. Fuck. It can't be later than 9AM." Gajeel growled,

"Shut the fuck up, Gajeel." Lucy moaned as she fell out of the bed, accidentally dragging Levy out with her. Lucy's long limbs were suddenly intertwined with Levy's shapely ones. Levy, half asleep, dreamily hummed and untangled her arms from Lucy's only to hug her around the waist. Levy was quickly falling back to sleep, though Lucy was now wide awake, gently, Lucy pulled out from Levy's grasp, stood up, and padded over to Laxus who was being treated by Wendy.

"What is it?" Lucy yawned

"Cold, same as Gray. It shouldn't last too long, we just need to let them both rest for about two days, if I don't heal them, that is. But I don't have enough energy, physical or magical, to heal either of them." Wendy guiltily looked away, she hadn't been eating much air lately, which impeded her healing magic, among others, since every dragonslayer needs to eat their element regularly to be able to use their magic healthily and regularly.

"I'll be going out sometime soon, I need air." Wendy said to Lucy and Cana, they nodded knowingly.

"I can get them healed in a few minutes if I can get the power." Wendy mumbled, "I'll just get it over with now. I'll be out for a few." Wendy said as she took long strides to the door, "Be back soon." She said as she turned the knob of the door, pulling it open and pushing herself out into the cool air. Leaving Lucy quietly chuckling at Wendy's adult mannerisms.

00000

*Wendy's POV*

I shouldn't take such bad care of myself... The pack depends on my healing, I am our backup incase someone gets injured. I need to eat properly, just as the other slayers have figured out their own systems. It's not even like air is hard to come by, though it tastes better the higher up it comes from. How inconvenient...

I use small bursts of magic, what little I currently have, to boost my jumps up a particularly tall tree. The air smells nice. Natural and thin. As I land on the highest sturdy branch, I survey the area. This area is truly breathtaking, the trees are perfect camouflage, I can barely see the cabin from my perch.

As a dragonslayer, my magic is strong, and functions without me eating my element, but is extremely weak compared to my normal level if I neglect eating air. Honestly, it's not that hard to eat air, I could just eat it on the ground, but I'm a picky eater I guess. I open my mouth and sense my element all around me, closing my eyes, I let the air surge into my mouth, taken aback a little by the sudden boost in my magical energy. Yes, this is much better. I smile as I sense my meal coming to a close, I'm nearly full, no need to overeat.

I don't particularly want to go back down anytime soon, but I know if I'm out too long everyone will worry.

"Maybe I'll just stay a bit longer." I say to myself, mentally cursing my childish habit.

I sit on the branch, putting my right hand to the bark of the tree to sturdy myself, and the left to rest on the branch I'm on. The sky is clear, a painfully bright blue, the sun a large, bright blemish in the sky. The forest we're in is pretty huge, I can only see one side where it ends, a little ways south, the forest fades into a large field, I can see a small town. Looking a little harder, I see the town is overridden with the dead. How sad, it was probably a really cute town before all this. I sigh, breathing in the thin, musky air, before pushing off from the branch and free falling towards the forest floor.

I love the feeling of falling, it's like flying but less controlled, it's nice sometimes. Of course, I do not enjoy pain or the actual impact of falling, so once in roughly ten feet from the ground I send a small gust of wind downward, not only pulling me from my nosedive, but also softening the landing enough for me to land lightly on my toes.

"Nailed it!" I whisper yell, having not used my magic regularly for a while really made me miss it.

I skip to the cabin, my spirits higher than they had been when I'd departed. Stopping in front of the front door to recollect myself before stepping in, though I knew the other slayers had heard me coming and could probably hear that I'd been skipping, it's fine this one time, I suppose.

Laxus had been relocated to the bed, Gray was still on the couch, and almost everyone was awake, except Gajeel, Sting, and Yukino.

"All good?" Lucy looked at me from her place next to Gray.

"It went fine, I'm ready." I say, allowing a small smile to dance on my lips.

Lucy is perfect! She's strong when we need her to be, and compassionate enough to know what we need before we even know we need it, she's pretty much the perfect apocalypse survivor buddy.

But I see how Gajeel and Rogue look at her, like she's a piece of meat, I don't know how she doesn't see it! I guess she sees the good in everyone, not to say they aren't good people, I just don't think they'd be good with Lucy. As in with **with** Lucy. Anyway, no time to dawdle, there's work to do. I roll up my sleeves and get to work.


	10. Chapter 10

p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"*Cana's POV*/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Wendy's done healing Gray and Laxus, she says they'll probably just sleep it off for another hour or two. This is draining and stressful./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I smooth some of Laxus's stray hairs that are sweat slicked to his forehead. He really needs a haircut. I look around at everyone, we could all use haircuts to be honest. The longer out hair the easier it is for attackers to grab on to us. I'll have to ask Laxus if I can trim it later. I bring my lips to his sweaty forehead, pressing them lightly to his clammy skin before backing up and wiping my lips on the back of my hand. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'm going for a walk." I decide./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Careful." Cobra and Natsu say at the same time, quickly glaring at each other as if to check if the other was mocking them./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Awh, didn't know you guys cared so much, I'm flattered." I grin as I smoothly sashay to the door. I hear a few chuckles follow me out. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I close the door securely before I speed walk a little ways into the woods, I make sure the cabin is in sight as I put my back to a thick oak tree. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I breath in deeply as I feel it wash over me. Withdrawal. I haven't had a real drink in months, though at some houses we stay in I find a small stash of beer, wine, or liquor, but it seems like normal alcoholic servings just aren't enough for my appetite. My hands start to shake, and breathing feels like a chore. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I can generally ignore the symptoms if I keep busy, I think it may be a psychological type thing, but the moment I'm not busy and have a chance to chill, it seems to come back worse than ever. I feel sweat dripping down my face, under my jaw and into the collar of my sweatshirt. This blows. I'm not quite sure if this is good or bad, because if I can get through withdrawal long enough it should stop and my alcohol dependency shouldn't be so severe, but if I could somehow find enough to drink, it'd go away, as a short term solution, continuing to drink sounds like the perfect plan. But I know if I did, in retrospect I would be so fucking mad at myself, I'm far enough out in withdrawal where it shouldn't be too long now./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"00000/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"*Natsu's POV*/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I'm still looking at Gray, his stupid cute mug should be up any minute now, it's been about an hour since Wendy healed Gray and Laxus. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Back." Cana mumbles as she shuffles into the cabin, making her way to the bed Laxus is resting in, before crawling in next to him and cuddling up close to him. They're so cute sometimes, I want to burn them both, but then again, sometimes me and Gray get a bit touchy-feely. Especially lately, now it seems like everyone's slowly getting more energetic and less depressive. That's definitely a step in a better direction. Except now that there's energy to spare, the group's general libido is returning. I can practically smell it wafting off everyone. There are definitely cons to having heightened senses.../span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"000000/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"*General POV*/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The entire pack was nervously awaiting the awakening of Laxus and Gray, even though Wendy and Lucy assured them multiple times, it wasn't so serious a sickness. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hey! Hey! I think he's coming around!" Cana yelped, squeezing Laxus's hand tighter./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He blinked, turning his head towards her, "Babe... You're so loud..." /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Cana couldn't even find it in her to be upset, she was so happy Laxus was finally awake./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""That's good." Wendy said, smiling politely, "You feel okay? Tired? Hot?" Laxis shook his head, "All good, a little sore, but all good./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Natsu was still sitting quietly by Gray, knowing logically he had little to fear, Gray was going to wake up any minute now. But still, Natsu found himself biting his nails and dragging his knees to his chest./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""It'll be fine, Natsu. Chill." Rogue tried to comfort the nerve racked man./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I know, I know." Natsu sighed, "It's just-"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Urgh.." Gray groaned, "Why's it so damn bright?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Natsu smiled and jumped to hug his groggy boyfriend. All his anxiety seemed to melt away and the tension in his neck and shoulders faded./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You piece of shit. Fight me." Natsu mumbled into Gray's shoulder. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Gray shrugged it off and hugged Natsu back, looking around the room slowly./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What's for breakfast?" Gray asked the room./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""It's lunchtime now," Lucy said as she referenced the sky outside the window, "and we still have some canned soups." /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Sounds good, I never even got to eat last night." Sting grinned./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You dumbass, no one got to eat last night." Rogue grunted, affectionately poking the side of Sting's head. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Whatever.." Sting pointed his chin, trying to look indifferent and condescending, but he ended up looking like a pouting child instead./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Gajeel had been awake for a while, he was just a little too comfortable to make himself get up from his place, leaning against the wall, or even open his eyes. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"000000/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"*Gajeel's POV*/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I haphazardly opened one eye, taking in Gray and Natsu's disgustingly cute cuddling and Cana and Laxus's bickering, before moving on to scope the room. Wendy was talking to Mira as they both held the sealed soup cans that they intended to open and ask Natsu to heat up. Yukino and Cobra were quietly conversing with Sting and Rogue, while Levy and Lucy were handing soup cans to everyone while talking about their first loves or something stupid like that. I close my eye again./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I never had a love, first or any, there's never been time, even before this shit hit the fan. But I ain't no fucking virgin, black steel Gajeel can't go 'round with that reputation. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I like to think I was decent about it, I warned the chicks I slept with that I never fuck with the same girl twice, that it would be a one night only type arrangement, and they consented. I had them whimpering beneath me, it was hot, not heartwarming. Sex and love have nothing to do with each other. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I hear bunny girl and the shrimp coming towards me, they stop, I can tell Bunny's about to lean down to wake me up. I open my eyes abruptly./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yes?" I say, obviously catching her by surprise, a dumbass look flashes on her face for a split second before she notices my smirk and her shock gives way to a grin as she hands me a can./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It's a can of beef chili, I look at her hands, she's holding her own can of chili, as is Levy, who's standing behind Lucy, lost in her own thoughts. I thank Bunny quickly and as she starts walking over to Natsu, Levy looks at me briefly, smirking sharply, before turning and shuffling over to Lucy and Natsu. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I guess Levy loves Lucy, that's where we are different, I feel no love for Lucy. I do care for her, she is a part of the pack, a part of what is mine, but that's not love. That is possessiveness and familial caring, but then there's also physical attraction, at least on my side, I wouldn't mind her as my fuckbuddy, she's just as sexually frustrated as I am, I can smell it on her. Actually I can smell it on almost everyone, most of us are pretty horny./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Gihi." I couldn't stop a snicker from prying it's way past my smirk. I check the room quickly, I don't think anyone heard me. Good. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"As soon as everyone is settled and eating I get up and open my can, handing it to Natsu to heat it. He does it quickly, before picking his own can up to finish scarfing it down. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"After I finish the chili, I chew on the can, it's not particularly tasty, but it's edible, and I'm bored./span/p 


	11. Chapter 11

*Mira's POV*

Wendy brought my can to Natsu, who heated it up. As Wendy places it back in my hand the warm metal is pressed to the sweaty palms of my hands. It's not really warm, the can is undeniably hot, but not so hot that it's uncomfortable, or I feel that I'll get burned. I can handle myself.

It's a thick, meaty chili, which I used to cook up at the guild, mine was far superior to this canned monstrosity, but food is food these days, I'm grateful to be fed.

Wendy sits down on the floor next toe and primly spoons out her chili, she must not be too hungry since she went out for air earlier. We keep up small talk, but I'm not really in the mood.

Everyone else seems to be taking my lack of motivation pretty well, I feel a little guilty when I see them going out of their ways to help me out, but a part of me can't be bothered. I love my family, and I know they love me, but I can't bring myself to care about much of anything anymore.

I finish up my meal, I feel uncomfortably full.

"I need fresh air." I declare. I want to be alone. Sting gets up and begins to walk over to join me. I stop walking and look at him.

"Alone." I explain,

"Chill, I just wanna take a walk, it doesn't really matter much to you if I just quietly walk with you." He says tiredly. Am I so annoying? Am I being a bitch? I'm not trying to be one...

I sigh, "Okay."

I toss my empty can to Gajeel, who catches it without looking up from the one he's currently snacking on.

"Show off." I feel a smile force it's way on my face as I tease Gajeel.

"Watch it." He smirks as he catches the can Sting threw his way.

"Watch me." I grin as I make my way out the door, Sting following behind and shutting the door.

We walk in comfortable silence into the forest, I'm lucky Sting is a dragonslayer, this way I don't have to worry about getting lost and not being able to find my way back. We walk through the trees, the air is cool and crisp, and the sunlight filters through the leaves overhead in an almost magical way. Though there isn't much sunlight filtering through, the trees are pretty close together this far out so they provide a perfect canopy. I bet if it rained we wouldn't even be able to tell.

"What's up?" Sting tries to start a conversation. I don't know if I want to talk. But he already thinks I'm a bitch, so I reply.

"Not much. It's just so stuffy being in there, especially since two of them were sick."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Sting shrugs.

We continue to leisurely walk, slowly winding through the trees. We've returned to the silence, it's nice though. Something feels off though, it isn't the silence itself, but something is definitely wrong here.

000000

*Sting's POV*

I look at Mira, she's quiet, the only sounds from her are her even breathing and constant sighs. I try to listen to our surroundings. Something doesn't sit right with me.

I can hear leaves rustling and small sounds from Mira, but other then that, I can't pick up much. She slowly starts walking differently, more spastically, less relaxed and more forced. Like a puppet. To be honest, it's super creepy. But we keep walking, and I try to pretend everything is normal. I try to gradually and casually guide us back to the cabin.

The silence is no longer comfortable, but forced and strained. I'm gonna try to fill it.

"So... How was your lunch?" I try to keep it light, I just want to kill time until we make it back to the others. Maybe we shouldn't have come on our own, I should've invited Wendy or Rogue along.

"It was... Alright." Mira squeaked.

"That's always good. I guess." Then we sink into another awkward and terrible silence.

"Sting," I hear her breath my name so quietly, I almost missed it.

"Yeah?" I whisper.

"I can't move." She whisper yells,

"What?"

"I can't move!" She stresses the word move. I'm all sorts of confused, but since she seems like she's keeping it on the down low I'll just play along.

"But you're moving right now..." I try to keep cool, she's starting to freak me out.

"I'm not doing anything." I can hear the fear in her whiny whisper.

I keep my head facing forward, but I let my eyes slide over to look at Mira, whose head was slightly turned to me, eyes eyes wide and eyebrows high on her forehead.

"Oh shit..." I hiss.

"Wanna go back now?" I ask casually. So whatever is controlling Mira can hear me. It's probably a mage, so if we can get to the group we can fight as a group, just two of us isn't gonna work out.

"Yeah, I'm not feeling so well." Mira tries to play along.

I breathe in deeply, I can't smell anyone else, all I smell is normal nature stuff.

"Okay, the cabin's this way." I point and start to walk in that direction, Mira's body stops abruptly.

Her head turns to me slowly, she's smiling. But her eyes are still wide, terrified and starting to tear up. We both know it. Whoever is controlling her has caught on to us. Her terrified upper facial expression contradicts her eerie smile,

"You better run." She hisses from her forcibly clenched teeth.

"What? Why?" I start to sweat, adrenaline is flushing through my system.

"You need to get help. NOW." Tears are streaming down her face, everything about her looks unnatural and stressed due to the ear-to-ear smile stitched to her face and stiffness of her entire body.

I don't even respond before I turn and run, I'm sprinting like there's no fucking tomorrow. Quickly, the cabin is in my line of sight, I start sprinting harder, pumping faster, not even paying attention to what I can't see. And then I see it. And I smell it. And my legs stop doing what I tell them to. She's short, only 5 feet tall at the most, but she looks like a giant from my place in the forest floor. She's wearing the same creepy grin as Mira.

I open my mouth to roar, or yell for help, or anything. But she stamps that out immediately.

"Ah-ah-ah." She says disapprovingly, holding up her left index finger and moving it in tune with the sound. She brings the finger to her lips, her grin shrinking to a smirk and her green eyes twinkling.

It's like my teeth are superglued together and there's nothing I can do. My body isn't doing what I tell it to. My arms and legs are splayed out, while my head is turned to the side, my chest is pounding against the forest floor. I'm praying they can hear something from the cabin. Praying that they save us.

I drag my eyes over our attacker. At first glance she looks like a child, it even seems like she abuses her childlike appearance, tying her pink hair into two ponytails, high on her head, wearing orange overalls with a yellow tshirt underneath. But when I looked at her closely, I could tell she was an adult, her breasts were large enough to rival Lucy's, though they were hidden under the baggy infantile overalls. The girl-like woman wore bright pink shoes, with the laces tucked in, again, like a kid. What the fuck, does she have some sort of fetish?

I tear my eyes away from my childish hunter and see Mira, standing next to her, gone was her creepy grin, it had been replaced with a look of complete fear and acceptance.


	12. Chapter 12

*Mira's POV*

Sting is lying on the ground, my body dragged me along with the strange person hunting us. I hope the others are safe.

I get the feeling this is the end of the line, so to speak, for me, I can just tell. I don't know why I'm so calm, perhaps because I've long accepted that I have no control over how things go from here on out. I just hope I go painlessly.

Except... I don't want this attacker to reach the cabin. What if there are others, what if she's planning on killing all the others too! I don't know what I can do. I look back at Sting, who's still staring at me. What about him? Is he going to make it? I hope he does. I hope we all do... Realistically, that's not probable. I'm going to have to save us. But how?

000000

*General POV*

As Mira brainstormed and Sting panicked their sadistic attacker watched them silently, grinning like a bobcat.

"Time's up, maybe you'll be reunited in the afterlife!" The pink haired woman-child giggled.

Mira's eyes closed on their own, forced by the opposing mage's magic. And when they reopened Mira wanted to vomit.

The attacker had made Mira transform into her demon mode and she'd used the claws to more or less disembowel Sting, who was lying on the forest floor now on his back in a puddle of his own blood. Mira's body was still not hers to control, she tried to scream and tried to run, to no avail. She was completely powerless. Even without being able to check, Mira knew she had tears sliding down her face, it seemed like even her own eyes weren't following her commands anymore.

"I'm bored now, but it was fun while it lasted. I'm sure you and your friend will taste great!" The emerald-eyed fiend chimed.

Mira looked down at Sting who was still sputtering and coughing up his own blood, before she felt an immense pain radiating from her own stomach. Mira took a slow and painful breath before looking down to check the damage.

She abruptly gasped, even though she knew what to expect, it didn't lessen the impact of seeing her own guts spread out before her. Her own hand had betrayed her and slashed a hole in her own stomach. Mira felt herself drop to the ground, pressing her hands to her stomach before realizing she had it. She could finally control her body again. She stayed lying on her side for a few seconds before the enemy's pink-boot clad feet strode into view.

Mira clawed at the huntress's ankle, slicing to the bone, severing the tendon and bringing her to the ground as well, where Mira used her last bits of energy to protect and alert her family and avenge her and Sting's fate.

00000

*General POV*

"Ugh..." Natsu twitched, having heard A faint sound outside.

"Guys, you hear that?" He addressed the other slayers.

"I heard something... I don't know what." Wendy stood up from her place on the couch.

Rogue, Natsu, Laxus, Gajeel, Cobra, and Wendy all froze and listened harder.

"Thump." Another far away sound came almost instantly, followed by a louder grunt.

"Let's go!" Natsu yelled as he threw open the door and sprinted outside, sniffing the air before following a scent he had grown quite accustomed to. Blood.

The pack ran, following Natsu, they didn't run far before they found a blood saturated scene.

"Urgh-!" Cobra grabbed his stomach involuntarily as his other hand went to cover his mouth.

A collective gasp was released and many broke down in sobs.

Sting was lying on his back, his innards spread around him, blood running from his mouth, dark eyes dull and glazed over. A look of fear and understandIng etched on his face. Rogue dropped to his knees and grabbed Sting's bloody hand.

Mira was lying a few feet away, lying on her stomach, with both arms splayed in front of her, her oversized hoodie and ankle length skirt covered in blood and dirt, the soil around her dark from absorbing her spilt blood. Her hands covered in blood the dragonslayers knew wasn't her own. Mira also had a line on blood coming from her mouth, her blue eyes open and teary. Her mouth still opening and closing, though no sounds came out.

Lucy and Wendy ran over to Mira, Lucy grabbed her hand, bringing it to her face, cupping her own cheek with Mira's hand.

"Mira..." Lucy began to sob, her adult mask cracking, making way for an almost infantile, scrunched up crying face. "Noooooooooooo." Lucy breathed in a whiny voice.

"Krkkk.." Mira sputtered, trying to say something.

"No..." Lucy continued to sob and sniff.

"Kkkkk- Ugh. good." Mira caressed Lucy's cheek, accidentally smearing blood on Lucy's tear stricken face. Mira frowned, seeing the blood on Lucy.

Lucy looked at Wendy, who'd been surveying Mira, checking her with her magic. Wendy looked up at Lucy, then at the rest of the group, who were waiting for Wendy to say something, anything. Anticipating the worst, and bracing for it.

Wendy looked back at Lucy, cringing and slowly shaking her head.

"No... But..." Yukino hobbled forward, dropping to her knees on the other side of Mira, making a point of avoiding Mira's exposed guts on the ground next to her. Yukino was followed by Cana, Laxus, Natsu, and Gray.

"But you're my sister... And I love you... And I can't... You can't... Don't... Please don't go...?" Lucy's sobbing intensified. Mira tried to speak again, but seemed to be choking on her blood, and began coughing uncontrollably, splattering blood droplets on everyone near her, mostly on Lucy.

"No. No. No..." Lucy shifted closer to Mira's head and slipped her hands under her arms, dragging Mira slowly partially into her lap. Letting Mira's head rest on her collarbone, with her back to Lucy's chest. Lucy began to stroke Mira's face, whispering into her ear, telling her what only the dragonslayers could just barely pick up.

Everything was quiet, Wendy could tell it was almost time, it was a miracle Mira had even survived this long after such trauma.

They all watched as Mira's hand, shaking uncontrollably, lifted and pointed to the tree behind most of the pack, bringing her murderer to the attention of her mourning family. "... Bitch..." Mira choked out as everyone but Lucy and Rogue, who was busy cradling his fallen brother, looked at their alleged attacker. As Mira sucked in her last breath.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Lucy screeched at the top of her lungs, though no one flinched, as they all had already prepared to hone in on the murderess who had caused all the chaos.

The pink-haired huntress's eyes widened as she realized they'd noticed her as she's been tried to crawl away. Her left ankle had been mangled and the entire leg was covered in deep, gushing scratches and bite marks. Mira had done well to handicap her murderer, now it was the packs turn to exact revenge.

Lucy, who was still cradling Mira's body, now rocking back and forth silently, glared at the murderer with the deepest, purest form of hatred any human could possibly manage.

Rogue, who had since released Sting's body, stood up, passing the others who were circling around the killer, preparing to gang up on her, most likely causing her hours upon hours of torturous pain, but Rogue had no patience for that. As soon as he was standing in front of the childlike woman, who then opened her mouth, most likely about to try to talk them out of harming her, Rogue snapped. He bent over quickly, grabbing the woman by one spiky pigtail and lifted her up in the air. She tried to struggle, but as soon as she started to move, Rogue turned her around, put one arm around her head and the other on her neck and made a wrenching motion.

Rogue dropped the killer's lifeless, mangled body and turned around to return to the cabin. The others watch him go silently, before they dug two graves, buried Mira and Sting, even getting Gajeel to make them iron gravestones, the only current option, and had Natsu incinerate the murderer's body in a clearing a bit farther away from the cabin and the graves. They then marched solemnly and silently back to the cabin, to begin their mourning officially


	13. Chapter 13

*General POV*

It had been two days since the incident, things had been fairly quiet. They'd been eating the soup from cans without really rationing, and though they knew they were running out, no one could bring themselves to care.

It was quiet, they were all quiet, but Lucy and Rogue were the only ones who had said nothing since the funeral. Rogue spent most of his time at the graves, where no one dared to disrupt him.

The group was overall depressed but somehow functioning, they'd lost a sister. A friend. But they could only go forward, it was the only viable direction.

Lucy, who had just started to return to normal, had reverted to her gruff, tough, survival-mode self. But no one wanted to comfort her just yet, she needed to mourn in her own way, they all did.

00000

*Lucy's POV*

It's okay.

It's alright.

She's fine.

It's fine.

No it's not.

She's dead.

Sting's dead too.

Everything is dark...

I jolt awake. This fucking dreams are getting too fucking annoying. I'm angry, and everyone and no one, I need to do something to keep myself busy. We're almost out of food, maybe I could go find more. Or maybe we should just find a new place to stay. Though I don't think it would be good yet, we should stay near the graves for a bit longer. Just til we're ready to leave. Just til I'm ready to leave.

"I'm gonna go look for food, were almost out." My voice is scratchy from the lack of use.

"I don't think that a good idea..." Laxus says sternly.

"We need it. Please..." I don't wanna beg. I just hope he knows I need this. I need to get this out of my system.

He sighs, "fine, but you're not going alone." He ruffles my hair.

I huff and tie my hair back into a ponytail, no point in fixing the mess Laxus probably made out of my hair.

"I'll go." Rogue said as he walked through the door, as he rolls up the sleeves of his sweater.

Laxus says nothing, he's probably thinking that the two of us alone, together, and angry will make some brash decisions and somehow get ourselves killed. Maybe we will... Only one way to find out.

"Sounds good." I decide for Laxus, he's taking way too long. "Let's fucking go." I am not even sure where we're going.

"You should head south, there's a small town. It's overrun, probably not too badly though." Wendy suggested from her place on the couch, where she was braiding her own hair intricately.

"Thanks." I try to smile, though I'm sure a grimace is pasted on my face.

"It's about midday, you guys should be there by dark. Which means that you can scout for food in the morning, and start heading back by afternoon, which means you'd be traveling in the dark. That might not be too safe, so you could technically stay there a second night and return the second morning, which is the third day." Wendy created a game plan quite quickly.

"Okay. We'll be back in two days tops, if we aren't back by the third day, send a small group to check if we're dead or hurt." Rogue said with a straight face.

His jaw is set, constantly clenching and unclenching. He looks dangerous and aggressive, and totally my type. But there's no time for anything like that. I need to blow off steam, I'm still upset that Mira was killed, and Sting as well, but I wasn't quite as close to him. A loss is a loss though, I lost my big sister and one of my brothers, and though the murderer is dead, I'm still here. I'm still upset! I'm still pissed as hell.

"-good?"

"Huh?" I hadn't realized I'd zoned out.

"I said 'are you good?', cuz I'm ready to go." Rogue was still standing by the open door.

"Yeah. I am." I wave once at everyone in the cabin and duck out the door. Rogue follows me momentarily, I'm guessing after he says his quick goodbyes to the group.

We walk in silence southbound for a few minutes, and as soon as we were out of dragonslayer earshot I tell Rogue how it is, even though I'm sure he already knows.

"We go in. We kill stuff, we camp out somewhere safe, we kill more stuff, we find the food, THEN we camp out again, and THEN we come back." I say in one breath, "All good?"

"Glad we're on the same page." Rogue smirks at me.

"Great." I say as I start jogging. He matches my pace, obviously waiting for me to start running before he does, what a fucking gentleman.

I break into a sprint, grinning while turning my head to see Rogue still beside me. It's pretty nice to run with two people compared to the whole pack, less to worry about.

I turn my head forward and keep pumping my legs.


	14. Chapter 14

*Gajeel's POV*

After bunny girl and Rogue leave I listen to them walk away, they aren't saying anything. All I hear are their footsteps, heartbeats, and breathing. I should've volunteered to go with Bunny before Rogue did, it would be a really good time to talk to her about us fucking. Well... Not so much talking. Gihi.

All I can do is hope Rogue doesn't pull that shit, I hate people taking what I've claimed, not that I've technically claimed Bunny, but it's like a crude dibs, or maybe more like she's the prey I've been hunting for too long to give up and let someone else claim it. All I can do is wait for them to return I guess. That's fucking great…

0000000000

*Levy's POV*

Lucy's gone. That sucks. I hope she'll be okay, I personally think she's still a little too angry to be out there, but then again, maybe this is what she needs...

I just hope Rogue takes care of her. Not too good care, I don't need her coming back totally in love with him or anything, I don't trust him with her love, she can't handle heartbreak now, none of us can.

00000

*Rogue's POV*

Lucy and I are still running through trees and underbrush. We've only been running for about an hour. We must be getting sort of close, I can see a few zombies a little ways ahead. We slow to a comfortable walk and approach them confidently.

Lucy rams her heel into the knee of one zombie, hard. As it falls she jumps, straddling it as she begins to punch at its head, bashing in its skull with her fists.

I turn my attention back to the two walkers coming my way, I shoot a small arrow-like bit of my dark magic through one zombie's head and coat my hand in a thin protective layer of darkness before I follow in Lucy's footsteps and take down the lurker before pummeling it's head to a pulp. It was a little rough to break through the skull at first, if not for my protection, I would've definitely broken skin and injured my hand.

I look at Lucy, who had moved on to a second victim pretty quickly after pulverizing the first one. I smell the air, I can smell a little bit of her blood, she must've gotten hurt. We're going to have to clean off her hand quickly when she's done, she might get an infection. I notice a small golden flicker around her, and I watch as the golden light moves towards her right hand, surrounding it the way my dark magic is around my fist. She looks at her glowing fist briefly before continuing to throw punches at the zombie, who had stopped moving long ago. Lucy's magic looks a lot like Sting's in this form.

I take in a deep breath before I stand and walk up to a quickly approaching pair of zombies who are linked together with a set of rusty old handcuffs. I shoot a little magic through one's head and watch as the other slowed, held back by the downed zombie's weight.

I have to stop momentarily to catch my breath. Sting. We were the twin dragonslayers! He was my fucking brother! He was my fucking best friend! And now he's dead... And all the memories we had are only mine now.

Anger washes over me as my energy is renewed and I stomp on the head of the second handcuffed zombie.

000000

*General POV*

After they took down all the zombies around them, Lucy and Rogue took a breather. Sitting down heavily on the forest floor, Lucy inspected her hands. Since she'd used both, alternating when one got cramped or sore, they were both bloody and her knuckles were split.

"Fuck." She sighed, pulling out her keys, quickly summoning Virgo.

"Yes, Hime? Punishment?" Rogue jumped at the sudden presence, twitching, turning to look at the pink-haired maid, recognizing her almost instantly.

"Can you clean up my hands?" Lucy held out both bloody fists, palms down.

"Yes, I can help you out, Princess." Virgo smiled lightly before disappearing in the same flash of golden light she appeared in.

"You injured at all?" Lucy looked at Rogue between heavy breaths.

"No, I wasn't reckless." Rogue said nonchalantly.

"What are you trying to say?" Lucy calmly asked, willing herself not to start a fight.

"I'm just saying you could take better care of yourself." Rogue said in a monotone, keeping eye contact with Lucy.

"I take care of myself just fine." Lucy clenched her teeth, scowling at Rogue.

"I'm just saying the group depends on every single member, and you getting hurt handicaps us all."

"Fine" She said, retaining her hostility, though she was no longer upset.

"Princess," Virgo announced her presence, "are you ready?" She asked holding up a first aid kit the size of a large toolbox.

"Yeah, ready as I'll ever be." Lucy grumbled, holding her hands out to Virgo, who sat in traditional Japanese tea posture across from Lucy.

Virgo proceeded to clean Lucy's hands, and disinfect and wrap her knuckles. Lucy hissed through it, but never said a word.

"All good." Virgo announced, releasing one of Lucy's bandaged hands.

"Thanks so much, Virgo!" Lucy said smiling meekly up at her spirit.

"For you, anything." Virgo said as she returned to the celestial world.


	15. Chapter 15

"Let's find a place to camp for the night" Rogue shaded his eyes with his right hand, "It's getting dark."

Lucy looked up to find the sky dimming to a dull periwinkle color, "Yeah, sure."

She sighed as she pushed herself onto her feet.

"It should be a bit farther, if we run for around ten more minutes, we should get there." Rogue dusted off his sweatpants. Looking at Lucy, who was also carefully dusting off her sweatpants, carefully avoiding the bandaged parts of her hands.

"Let's get goin'." She said as she stretched her arms out.

"Kay." Rogue said, as this time he was the one to breakout into a light job first.

The pair quickly made it to the small town.

"Libilith..." Lucy read the sign in front of the town, "How cute..." She quietly sighed.

"Now what..." Rogue looked past the sign at a somewhat zombie ridden street.

"I need a place to sit down, scratch that, I need a drink." Lucy walked past Rogue, pulling out her keyring and summoning Virgo and Loke to take down zombies that would get in her way as she walked along, and probably Rogue's path as well if he kept close enough to Lucy. He jogged to catch up with her.

She strode down the street, keeping an eye out for a bar or somewhere there'd definitely be alcohol. Rogue walking a few feet behind Lucy, keeping his eyes trained on the ground as Virgo and Loke escorted them throughout the small town.

"There, let's just stay there." Rogue said, pointing at a trashed liquor store. The front window was shattered, pieces of it still stuck in the frame, jutting out like broken and misshapen teeth.

"No, no." Lucy shook her head, "That's not safe at all."

Lucy walked into the liquor store, stepping around broken bottles and boxes stained with spilled wine and blood. She grabbed a bottle of vodka she definitely wouldn't have been able to buy with her meager earnings as a mage, and grabbed a smaller bottle of whiskey. Turning around and exiting the ruined shop before Rogue even had the chance to enter it.

00000

*Lucy's POV*

I sink to the floor after we reach a storage room on the second floor of some dingy takeout place. The room is pretty much a broom closet, between me, Rogue, and the shelf with cleaning supplies and toilet paper rolls are stacked up on, there isn't much space. If me and Rogue tried to lie down side by side, our arms would overlap and our knees would be bent at 90 degree angles. But this is still safe and secure.

The lock to the front door of the restaurant downstairs is broken, so if a walker pushed it lightly the door would just pop open, so we went upstairs and chose the only room that locked from the inside and wasn't a bloody, gooey public restroom.

"Pass me the vodka already." Rogue's calm voice pulled me from my thoughts. I nod and pass it over.

He takes a gulp of it and looks at me, "Want some? You're the one that said they needed it." I ponder his words. I'm feeling mellow. No, not mellow. Empty...

"You can go ahead and drink that, I've got whiskey." I decide it's easier for us to have our own bottles.

My back is to the wall opposite Rogue, and his back is on the wall next to the door as he continues to take swigs from his bottle, and I begin to take long sips from mine. It burns and tingles all the way from my tongue to my throat, and even further. I'm slowly feeling more and more angry.

Angry at who? Not Rogue. Not Sting. Definitely not Mira. Who am I angry with? I should be angry with the killer, right? But I'm not... I spent all my hatred when she died, but now all I have is anger. Perhaps not even anger anymore, it's melting away into something less raw. Something I can deal with. Something I can express. Angst.

I look at Rogue, he looks like he's deep in thought too, he looks at me. I think I like his face. He smiles dopey-ly, though his face slowly turns serious afterwards. Yeah... He has a really nice face.

I want to touch his face. I want to touch his everything. God, I haven't had sex in forever. I sound like a fucking virgin. Like some half baked high school closet freak. Haha, closet freak... I giggle. It's funny because we are in a closet... I break out into full on laughter.

"What's so funny?" Rogue seems almost sober,

"Don't even worry about it!" I giggle so much I can feel myself tip over a little so my knees are knocking Rogue's.

I look at his face, his eyes are glazed, his mouth slightly ajar, it would be a shame if someone took advantage of that opening he left in his defenses. I grin to myself as I roll onto my knees and kicked one leg over his, straddling him with little to no resistance.

00000

*Rogue's POV*

Damn, my tolerance is way down, I feel drunk off my ass, only half the bottle in and I'm practically plastered, that's rough. I'm staring at Lucy, the small dark room is only illuminated by a slight gold glow coming from her body, it's bright enough so I can see fine, but then again, I'm a dragonslayer, I can see in the dark, Lucy however is not and can probably see pretty well. Though the light is still fairly dim.

Lucy licks her somewhat chapped lips, grinning, before getting on her knees and straddling me, grinding against my dick like nobody's fucking business.

I feel a groan crawling up my throat, but her lips descend upon mine and she catches it herself. My legs can barely lie down straight with how much space we have, and I find myself overthinking every aspect of this. If we fuck in here will lurkers here us from outside? Will we make too much noise? Is Lucy a screamer?

"Hey, don't think too hard, just fucking kiss me." Lucy backs away from my face by a fraction of an inch as she breathes out her words, commanding me to do as she says. I don't know if she wants a verbal answer but I don't bother, now it's my turn to steal her lips and her moans. I close the gap between our mouths again, and as we're pretty much wrestling with our tongues for dominance, I unzip her sweater. She pulls her arms through the sleeves briskly and hangs them on my shoulders and around my neck. She breaks the kiss to back up again and slip her loose tshirt over her head and dropped it on the floor on top of her fleece sweater. I look at her, I mean really look at her, and she is sexy as hell, I feel my mind fogging up again. Her hooded eyes are inviting me to finish what we started, but also sending a hidden message. She'll be the one to dominate me tonight, she knows it, but me, I'm not so sure.

She leans forward, pressing a chaste kiss to my lips with her eyes wide open, daring me to blink, I don't. She smiles into the kiss and grabs my hands, bringing them to her back. I feel her bra clasp, I smirk and slide my tongue along her top lip as I unhook her bra. She allows me entrance past her lips and slides her own tongue past mine. I know my boner is definitely tenting my loose sweatpants, based on the general discomfort and the fact that she had since began grinding against my dick again and I can feel everything.

She shimmies the bra off and breaks out kiss to drop it on her growing pile of clothes. She roughly unzips my sweater and tugs it off, I lift my arms a little to make it easier, but part of me wants to let her do it. I want to see how badly she wants it. How badly she wants me. After my sweater is added to her pile of clothes she mumbles "Lift your arms." Directly into my ear and I oblige, as she rips my tshirt over my head I see a small smirk tug at her lips.

"Like what you see?"

I return the smirk. "I don't know, do you?"

Lucy brings her hands up to her breasts. Her fingers covering most of her nipple, though the areola is still visible. Cupping her tits, causing them to look as though they would spill from the confines of her hands at any minute, but also somehow completely secure. It's fucking magical.

I look back up at her, "Yeah."


	16. Chapter 16

*Lucy's POV*

His eyes are glazed over and hooded, and his voice has been hardened by the alcohol, reaching a gravelly sound level. His hands are resting on my hips, and I'm totally ready for this. I need this. He needs this, I mean look at him, his dick looks like it's painfully hard. And I can feel the wetness between my legs, thank Mavis, that means he can skip foreplay and we can get right to the good stuff. I like being the one in charge.

"Your pants are in the way," I whisper into his ear before licking the shell of it. Rogue shivers, delicious. He's ready.

I stand up, one foot on either side of Rogues legs as I step over them and pull my pants down as well, kicking them and my underwear off in two shakes.

I look back down at Rogue and he's gotten his pants down to about his knees, but seems a little too busy looking at me to be able to get them farther. Oh well, that's not important anyway, I slide back into his lap again, arching my back and bringing his face to my breasts with my hands. He brings his hands up from my hips to my tits and begins fondling them, closing his eyes. Is he about to come? We haven't even fucking started yet!

"You better not. Wait that shit out." I tell him, he looks at me almost pathetically before nodding and looking at me pleadingly. I lean into his lips again and vodka and whiskey dance between our tongues. I hear him groan. Now. He wants it now. Good, I wanted it fucking ten minutes ago.

00000

*Rogue's POV*

Lucy put one hand on one of my shoulders and used the other to hold my throbbing dick in place as she located her entrance. I feel like I'm about to blow, I definitely won't make it much longer, but I have to, I have to make Lucy cum too, it's practically a sex law. What the fuck is a sex law?

All thoughts halted as I feel her heat surround me slowly, so fucking tight. She can't be a virgin can she? I open my mouth to ask, but my words get swept away as suddenly I'm completely in her, and nothing else matters. I look up at her face, she's still kind of giving off that faint gold glow, and there's a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead. Her eyes are closed, almost peacefully, and her hair is matted to her sweaty skin and wispily curling away from her head. Her teeth are clenched and her lips are slightly parted, she looks fucking hot. Her eyes flash open and she instantly starts bouncing up and down, pulling herself away from me, just enough to where the tip of my dick was still in her, then slamming her way back down, to the base of my dick. I want to bite her, I'm not so sure why but I want to leave my mark, I don't know if she's the love bite type though, so I hold back the urge. I want to do something, and I realize my hands are still grasping her bouncing tits, I tighten my hold to tease her a bit more, flicking my thumbs over her hardening nipples. The faster she comes, the sooner I can too. She leans into me and begins licking my neck and shoulder and jaw line, I feel completely overstimulated, and I like it.

Suddenly I feel her clamp down on me, it's here. Good, fucking great. Her insides start spasming, clamping and unclamping my shaft, I feel myself release.

000000

*Lucy's POV*

I feel my orgasm peak and my body pretty much shuts down, I vaguely feel Rogue come in me, but I'm too tired to care or process that. I don't give a fuck. Not at all. I feel too good right now. His length gets soft again and I pull myself off of him, our sweaty, clammy skin rubbing against each other quietly as I watch him fall over, asleep. I crawl over to spoon him. He's pretty warm, not Natsu warm, but still. I feel fatigue win the war we were waging.

000000

I wake up in darkness. It feels peaceful, I can feel my head aching. It feels like my brain is throbbing. I really don't wanna move from this spot. Ever. I reach a hand out in a random direction, I hit warm skin.

What? What the fuck? Oh well, I'll figure that out later. I throw my hand in the opposite direction of whoever I just whacked with my limp hand.

This time I feel something fuzzy, a sweater I think. I drag it closer to me, it's huge, so I just pull it over me like a small blanket. As I bring my knees closer to my chest I feel a small ache from between my legs.

Great, who the hell did I fuck last night and where am I?

Vague memories flow into my head steadily, I'm on a mission to find food for the pack, I left yesterday with... With... With Rogue! It was Rogue. I fucked Rogue.

I sigh. Shit. That means he's the one sleeping behind me. This blows, I can't even do the walk of shame because we're stuck together for this mission.

I release a little magic to make a dull gold glow and I shrug off Rogue's sweater and grab my own clothes that are in a convenient pile, I pull on my underwear and clothes quickly and fumble for the door. Once I locate the knob I cut off the magic that's giving me a little light and put my other hand over my eyes.

I unlock the door and push it open a bit, flinching and stifling a groan as the bright light sneaks past my fingers and into my eyes. I step out into the hall and close the door behind me.

"Shit." I groan, the light is way too bright, I'm only in a hallway, I look for the source of the blinding light. There's a skylight that takes up about half of the ceiling in the hallway. And the sun is high in the sky. Great. We should start scouting for food soon. But I really don't want to.

I summon Loke, "Morning," he chimes, "What can I do for you?" He smiles somewhat flirtatiously

"Cana you go out and scout where there'd be food? I would do it myself, but as I'm sure you're well aware, I'm extremely hungover." Lucy drawled out the sentence as quickly as she could manage.

"But of course." Loke smiles as he brings my hand to his lips, kissing it slowly.

"Thanks. I appreciate it." I snatch my hand back and step back to let Loke walk by. He makes his way down the stairs and out the front door almost instantly. I hear my stomach grumble. Shit, I'm starving. Before we get going tomorrow, I'm gonna pig out on something.

I summon Virgo, "Yes, Hime?"

"Can you bring me some clean... I don't know... Something."

"As you wish." Virgo bowed as she began to glow gold and she returned to the celestial spirit world.

I feel gross and dirty and sticky all over.

The feeling of self disgust intensified as I feel how stiff my panties are at the crotch, I shift from leg to leg. Oh god, I'm a fucking nympho when I'm drunk.

"Oh Mavis..." I massage the bridge of my nose, right between my eyes. I picked up the habit after I first started using gale force glasses. I miss reading. I miss relaxing. I miss the way things used to be. I miss buying food. I miss taking baths for fun. I miss alone time. I miss writing letters to my mom. I miss clubbing until I had to have my friends drag me back home with our heels in our hands. I miss my communication lacrima. I miss the old Earthland.

I wander into a room, farthest from the staircase. The door was off it's hinges, the window looking down at the street was broken, thoroughly knocked out of the frame, as if someone had done so to escape through the window. I inspect it further, the window frame had been bolted down. It was manufactured that way.

"Princess!" Virgo appeared, "I brought you fresh undergarments and some spandex leggings, I found then in your apartment."

"Thanks, Virgo."

She is able to pick things up from my old apartment. Always has been. We got food from my apartment in the first few weeks, Virgo could retrieve things we needed if I ask her to, but it is very draining on my part, since it is my magic that powers her opening what one might call a door to and from the celestial world in far away places. But I really needed a change of underwear, the spandex was an added bonus.

I look up from my thoughts to find Virgo gone, she must be trying to preserve my magic. I drop my underwear and pants again, in one go, quickly replacing them with the new pair of panties and the comfy spandex leggings.

"Morning.." Rogue mumbled, he's avoiding eye contact, he probably remembers. Fucking great.

"Morning." I internally cringe as I politely smile at him. This is fucking perfect. I want to make my own escape out that window.


	17. Chapter 17

*Rogue's POV*

I woke up about an hour before Lucy. I felt too awkward to get up or anything, with Lucy snuggled up against my naked body, there wasn't much I could do. After what felt like an eternity, I inched a few centimeters away from her and pulled my pants and boxers back up from where they had slipped the night before.

Just as I finished, I heard Lucy groan. She throws a hand in the air and lets it fall, it hits my chest. I almost thought she knew I was awake, but then she threw her hand over on her other side and picked up my sweater, pulling it over her curled up form like a blanket.

After a few seconds she starts glowing gold again and grabs her clothes, standing up and getting dressed with her back to me, unintentionally giving me a head on view of her ass, until she finished getting dressed.

I had tried so hard to act like I was still sleeping, but she didn't even turn around to look at me at any point, which made me feel relief and slight disappointment, I mean, after sleeping with the chick I'd been fantasizing about since zombies took over Fiore, and she doesn't even try to peek at my semi-naked body when she thinks I'm asleep?! That's brutal.

She eased the door open and slides out soundlessly, though I heard her grumble in the hallway.

Finally I'm alone and I roll onto my side, breathing in the scent of mixed drinks and sex.

There are voices in the hall, first I hear Loke, followed by the sound of him enthusiastically running down the stairs and outside.

A few seconds later I hear Virgo. Lucy asked her for clothes, I think. Then, Virgo's presence fades and all that's left is silence and muffled moans from zombies outside.

"Oh Mavis..." I hear Lucy whisper. Was sleeping with me that big of a deal? I mean I don't mind too much if we just pretend it never happened, why's it such a big deal for her? Oh shit, was that her first time?

I hear Virgo reappear and disappear, followed by the sounds of Lucy changing again. Well, it's now or never... I get up and step into the hall, silently making my way to the room I can hear Lucy's heartbeat and breathing coming from.

"Morning." I stare at the floorboards, they don't look to stable. I feel like I'll fall through the floor at any given moment.

"Morning.." Lucy awkwardly sighs.

Shit. Now what...?

"Hey, we don't have to talk about this of you don't want.." I offer.

She doesn't look any less stressed out. "I mean, you weren't a virgin or anything, were you?" I feel myself tense up at the question, I fucking hope to god she wasn't a virgin. If she was, this situation would be way worse for her... Shit...

Her eyebrow twitches slightly, "No, no. I wouldn't have let my first be a sloppy drunken escapade." She smirks a bit. Okay, good. My pride's a little worse for wear, but oh well.

"So what now?" I ask.

"Loke went to scope for places to check for food." She shrugs, the tension in the air has dissipated. Good, now we can really talk.

"I mean about this." I try to stay casual, I don't want to freak her out at all.

"What is there to say?" She says calmly, "That was a mistake, and I would take it back if I could, but on the other hand, it wasn't all bad. I had a lot of sexual frustration I had to take out, I'm sure it's the same for you."

"More or less." What I leave out is that she's the only one in the pack I'd even considered fucking. But she is right, sexual tensions are pretty high with the group in general.

"Is this gonna happen again?" I ask nonchalantly, trying to play it cool.

"If I want it to, and you do too, and if the timing is right, probably." She says with a slight grin. Her regret seems to be taking backseat to some newfound and unspoken agreement we seem to have forged. "But do better next time, the alcohol got you sloppy." Her grin morphed into a smirk.

"Ditto." I grunt. My pride and dignity have taken enough hits today.

00000

*General POV*

The pair waited for Loke to return, killing time by playing hand games, rock-paper-scissors, slide, and chopsticks. Loke appeared under the door frame about 45 minutes after he initially left.

"My love," He dramatically called to Lucy. She turned to him and grunted in response, resting her chin on the palm of her hand, elbow propped up on her knee. "I have found two warehouses and an untouched grocery store for you to take supplies from."

"Thanks, Loke, I appreciate it." Lucy smiled briefly before sending Loke back to the spirit realm.

"Off we go." She got up and dusted off her pants, Rogue followed in suit.


	18. Chapter 18

*Lucy's POV*

At least it's not super awkward anymore. Rogue's actually pretty chill once you get past all the sexual attraction and frustration. I don't know if there's a label on our current relationship, I guess we're friends? Who might end up fucking again? I don't really know, and I don't really care either.

We're walking through the streets, with Loke as our guide to the places he's checked out.

"So Lucy," Loke turns his head towards me with an innocent grin on his face. Too innocent...

"Yeah?" I love Loke, I really do, he's one of my best friends, even if he is a slave to his sex drive. But if he asks me another suggestive question, I'm going to jump up onto his back and pull his hair out. All my spirits have the ability to check in on my due to our connection via my keys, they've probably all seen me fucking at one point or another, but if Loke brings this up right now in front of Rogue... Mavis help him.

"So, about-" he starts, quickly being interrupted by Rogue.

"Loke, you oughta be careful, Lucy's already balling up her fist..."

Thank Mavis for Rogue's common sense. I mean it doesn't take an idiot to know what kind of thing Loke was going to ask.

Loke looks back at me unsure, before smiling and nodding, before turning his head back to pay attention to where he was leading us.

"Not too far now." Loke waves his right hand, I'm not really sure why, but I guess it's the type of thing people don't really question.

"How are we gonna bring this back to everyone anyway?" The dilemma probably just came to Rogue's mind.

"I can get Virgo to hold on to whatever we need, in pretty much any amount, in the spirit world. Don't worry about it." I brush off Rogue's question. Honestly, how silly, the pack has been together long enough that he should already have a basic knowledge of my magic and my spirits.

"Oh." Rogue has probably sensed how silly that question was in retrospect. Though I suppose in general it is wise for him to ask questions, even if he should know the answer already.

*Rogue's POV*

"Here." Loke says nonchalantly, pulling open a sliding door to a warehouse. He inches the door open at first, checking inside before giving Lucy a thumbs up and pulling the door all the way open.

"Lady's first," Loke said as he stepped back, letting Lucy walk into the warehouse before pointing behind me and smirking, "You might wanna get that."

I turn quickly and see a small mob of zombies stumbling towards us.

"Shit," Lucy jogged back out of the storage house and force closed Loke's gate.

Lucy summons Virgo almost instantaneously and requests "two knives or swords" The crowd of lurkers slowly getting closer towards us. Now the ones leading the mob are approximately 20 feet away.

I channel my shadows into seven spears and send them towards the mob, hopefully thinning the crowd, I see five zombies hit the ground, leaving about 15 still stumbling towards us .I need to work on accuracy.

"Princess!" Virgo reappears with one sword and one knife, "I didn't know which would be more useful." She explained before returning to the spirit world.

"Thanks, Virgo." Lucy mumbled with one hand on her letting and another clumsily balancing a broadsword and a hunting knife.

"Want one? She rolls the sword around in one hand after transferring the knife to the other.

"Sure, you pick."

She hands me the knife so quickly I honestly thought she was going to stab me with it, despite her handing it to me with her hand gripping the blade properly.

The zombies are about seven feet from us now, but that's fine we can take them.

I lunge, tackling and taking down roughly three walkers.

"Fuck you!" I hear Lucy planting her blade into the head of some zombie.

I speedily stab the heads of the zombies I took down and jump back onto my feet, ready to take down more. There's only six left moving, four of them are pinned under already taken care of lurkers. How the fuck does Lucy do this shit? I stab a zombie that just barely came close to me and look at Lucy, who'd already taken care of the other mobile zombie and was taking out the ones on the ground.

She must be pretty good with that sword... I didn't mean for that to sound so perverted... Shit.

She looks over at me, a thin sheen of sweat glossing her skin and her eyes clouded with something... Bloodlust? She takes a deep breath and looks up to the sky, dropping the sword, letting it make noise against the asphalt.

"This.. I really love this.." She breathes out quietly. Leaving me unable to respond. Seriously, what the hell does that mean? Does she love this new shitty world? Or killing zombies? Or maybe just violence in general?

I say nothing, there's nothing I could possibly say...

She looks over at me, "I mean, don't you?" Okay, I need to know what the fuck she's talking about.

"Umm. What?" I sound every bit as confused as I am.

"I mean venting." She elaborates,"Like, I felt like shit yesterday, and the day before, and for a while. But venting is good, whatever form it takes. It makes it easier to go on. Ya know?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right." I shrug.

"Anyway, we can start the actual work now," She picks her sword up and summons Virgo, handing her the sword and nodding for me to hold out the knife I used.

"Can you bring these back and then come back when you're done?" Lucy asked Virgo.

"Yes, Princess." Virgo looked happy just to be helpful.

00000"

*General POV*

Lucy led the way into the warehouse, Rogue followed quietly.

"What do you think is worth grabbing?" Lucy asked as she picked up a very large can of peach slices.

"Protein? I dunno. Wendy likes oranges, so does Levy. Gajeel doesn't give a fuck.. Nastu likes spicy foods, right? Let's grab hot sauce or something." He suggested, he continued to rack his brain for more food preferences their companions had.

"Okay. Let's do it." Lucy began walking through the aisles of canned, dried, and boxed foods.

"Princess, I've returned." Virgo reappeared once again with a discreet smile gracing her features as she bowed.

"Good, can you hold these?" Lucy held out two huge cans of peaches and three of clementines in syrup.

Virgo nodded and held onto the food.

"Rogue, you find anything?!" Lucy called out.

"Yeah, one sec!" He hollered from some place on the other side of the large and dimly lit warehouse before moving towards Lucy quickly, partially fusing with the shadows along the storage racks to travel even faster.

"I found chile powder, pickled habanero peppers, canned orange in syrup, and lemon juice." Rogue was hugging all the jars, cans, and bottles he had acquired to his chest to prevent himself from dropping them.

"Sweet." Lucy was a little awed with how much Rogue had collected in the brief minute they'd separated. "Virgo?"

"Yes, I'll bring this all to storage and will return immediately." Virgo relieved Rogue of his findings and disappeared in a dull golden flash.

Lucy wiped a bit of sweat from her temple, "It's a little draining to keep summoning, first Loke, and now Virgo."

"Oh," Rogue felt a pang of guilt, "anything I can do?" He awkwardly offered.

"Nah, I got it." Lucy grinned up at Rogue and made a peace sign with her hand, the bandages on her knuckles making it look admittedly kind of badass to Rogue.

"Let's grab some soups, beans, and other canned vegetables." Lucy said,

"Sounds good." Rogue nodded.


	19. Chapter 19

After the pair collected all the food they thought their friends would enjoy and/or need and had Virgo put it into storage they turned to go to the other destinations Loke found.

Lucy was sweating a bit more than earlier and was breathing a little harder than usual, but Rogue wasn't sure what to do, they did need her spirit to assist in storing and transporting the food they found, but Lucy was obviously not going to be able to keep it up much longer.

She summoned Loke, "Hey, where's the second place you found? I think this is the last one we're gonna hit up. Hurry up please?" She directed her friend and spirit.

"Of course, Lucy." Loke said, with a completely serious look on his face, for once. "To speed things up, would you like to hop on my back and I'll take you? I'm sure the dragonslayer can keep up on his own." Loke suggested.

Lucy looked conflicted for a few seconds before nodding and reaching out to Loke, who turned around and help boost her onto his back.

Loke looked at Rogue momentarily, nodding once before taking off, sprinting at an almost superhuman speed. Rogue quickly followed.

*Lucy's POV*

I'm so tired. My magic energy is almost drained, I think I'll be able to keep Loke out for another ten minutes before I run out completely, but I can't do that since I need to be able to summon Virgo too.

Suddenly Loke stops running, "We're here." He gently puts me down, "Later, princess." He smiles and bows as he glows gold and disappears back to the celestial spirit world.

I look at Rogue, he's probably already figured out how close I am to crashing.

"Let's do this quickly, okay?" I urge.

"How about I grab the food and we make a pile at one set point and then you summon Virgo and she can take it in one go?" Rogue theorizes.

"Yeah, okay..." I want to do more but I honestly don't think it would be physically possible. "Thanks."

"No problem, princess." Rogue teases me, this guy... I think my spirits are beginning to influence him.

I giggle a little before he opens the door to the small grocery store we're standing in front of and jogs in, grabbing things off the shelves with ease.

I put my back to the glass store front, sliding down to sit on the ground, closing my eyes.

My limbs feel heavy and my eyelids feel like they've been glued together.

I hear a low moan. Shit.

I pry open one eye and see four lurkers making their way to me. Fucking great. Opening the other eye, I turn to look into the store, Rogue is nowhere in sight, probably in the back or something.

I push myself up and brace myself to tear apart the zombies before me, literally, since I have no weapons on hand at the moment and don't wanna waste anymore magical energy by summoning a spirit to help.

I can do this...

I take a deep breath and wait for the zombies to get a bit closer.

000000

*Rogue's POV*

As I'm crouching in the far corner of the store, trying to decide between canned chicken noodle soup and meaty beef chili, I hear zombies approaching the store from the outside. I grab both the chicken soup and beef chili and throw them in my cart before I run the the front of the store just in time to see Lucy stand up and face the walkers, she doesn't have a weapon, and I'm about to go out and help her, but something stops me as I watch her stand there, waiting for the zombie closest to her to get just a bit closer.

Suddenly, Lucy explosively dodges the first zombie, turning instantly and stomping on it's knee, breaking it. She then ducked under the arm of the second zombie and pushed it to the ground. Quickly crouching, Lucy grabbed hold of the second zombie's head and began to bash it against the first one's, only stopping when both lurker's skulls caved in. Lucy shot back up to her feet, wobbling a little before balancing on the balls of her feet and punching a third zombie that had just made it's way to her, her hand burrowing into it's chest, breaking some ribs and passing them, she moved her hand around in the zombie, using her free hand to steady the zombie before ripping out a piece of it's rib. Lucy then plunges the rib into the head of the zombie, and as soon as it stopped moving, she struggled to pull the rib cm back out of it's head and took a few steps towards the fourth and final zombie before quickly stabbing it's brain and releasing the rib and the zombie, letting it fall to the pavement.

I push the glass door of the store open and peer out, "You okay? Need anything?"

She turns her head to me, "Just grab some rubbing alcohol and new bandages, throw them in the cart. Also, find the fridges with drinks and toss in as many water bottles, sodas, and sports drinks you can manage. Laxus and Gajeel like sports drinks." She mumbles. "You can patch me up when we get to wherever we're staying tonight."

"Alright," I say as I duck back into the shop and hurriedly make my way to the back wall dedicated to assorted beverages.

*General POV*

After Virgo took all the food back to the spirit world for storage, Lucy promptly fell asleep, or passed out, Rogue wasn't too sure. He shoved the bandages and rubbing alcohol into his pockets and picked Lucy up bridal style and began to look for a place to stay.

After wandering around for a bit, and avoiding lurkers, Rogue found a small cottage on the outskirts of town. He listened intently through the door for any zombies and heard about three. He decided he could handle that.

Gently putting Lucy down leaning on a porch pillar, Rogue looked around. Not seeing any zombies he climbed onto the porch roof and broke into the house through a window.

He quickly located two of the zombies, eradicating them, and dragging them outside into the backyard.

Rogue went back to check on Lucy, still out of it, as he expected.


	20. Chapter 20

"Let's find a place to camp for the night" Rogue shaded his eyes with his right hand, "It's getting dark."

Lucy looked up to find the sky dimming to a dull periwinkle color, "Yeah, sure."

She sighed as she pushed herself onto her feet.

"It should be a bit farther, if we run for around ten more minutes, we should get there." Rogue dusted off his sweatpants. Looking at Lucy, who was also carefully dusting off her sweatpants, carefully avoiding the bandaged parts of her hands.

"Let's get goin'." She said as she stretched her arms out.

"Kay." Rogue said, as this time he was the one to breakout into a light job first.

The pair quickly made it to the small town.

"Libilith..." Lucy read the sign in front of the town, "How cute..." She quietly sighed.

"Now what..." Rogue looked past the sign at a somewhat zombie ridden street.

"I need a place to sit down, scratch that, I need a drink." Lucy walked past Rogue, pulling out her keyring and summoning Virgo and Loke to take down zombies that would get in her way as she walked along, and probably Rogue's path as well if he kept close enough to Lucy. He jogged to catch up with her.

She strode down the street, keeping an eye out for a bar or somewhere there'd definitely be alcohol. Rogue walking a few feet behind Lucy, keeping his eyes trained on the ground as Virgo and Loke escorted them throughout the small town.

"There, let's just stay there." Rogue said, pointing at a trashed liquor store. The front window was shattered, pieces of it still stuck in the frame, jutting out like broken and misshapen teeth.

"No, no." Lucy shook her head, "That's not safe at all."

Lucy walked into the liquor store, stepping around broken bottles and boxes stained with spilled wine and blood. She grabbed a bottle of vodka she definitely wouldn't have been able to buy with her meager earnings as a mage, and grabbed a smaller bottle of whiskey. Turning around and exiting the ruined shop before Rogue even had the chance to enter it.

00000

*Lucy's POV*

I sink to the floor after we reach a storage room on the second floor of some dingy takeout place. The room is pretty much a broom closet, between me, Rogue, and the shelf with cleaning supplies and toilet paper rolls are stacked up on, there isn't much space. If me and Rogue tried to lie down side by side, our arms would overlap and our knees would be bent at 90 degree angles. But this is still safe and secure.

The lock to the front door of the restaurant downstairs is broken, so if a walker pushed it lightly the door would just pop open, so we went upstairs and chose the only room that locked from the inside and wasn't a bloody, gooey public restroom.

"Pass me the vodka already." Rogue's calm voice pulled me from my thoughts. I nod and pass it over.

He takes a gulp of it and looks at me, "Want some? You're the one that said they needed it." I ponder his words. I'm feeling mellow. No, not mellow. Empty...

"You can go ahead and drink that, I've got whiskey." I decide it's easier for us to have our own bottles.

My back is to the wall opposite Rogue, and his back is on the wall next to the door as he continues to take swigs from his bottle, and I begin to take long sips from mine. It burns and tingles all the way from my tongue to my throat, and even further. I'm slowly feeling more and more angry.

Angry at who? Not Rogue. Not Sting. Definitely not Mira. Who am I angry with? I should be angry with the killer, right? But I'm not... I spent all my hatred when she died, but now all I have is anger. Perhaps not even anger anymore, it's melting away into something less raw. Something I can deal with. Something I can express. Angst.

I look at Rogue, he looks like he's deep in thought too, he looks at me. I think I like his face. He smiles dopey-ly, though his face slowly turns serious afterwards. Yeah... He has a really nice face.

I want to touch his face. I want to touch his everything. God, I haven't had sex in forever. I sound like a fucking virgin. Like some half baked high school closet freak. Haha, closet freak... I giggle. It's funny because we are in a closet... I break out into full on laughter.

"What's so funny?" Rogue seems almost sober,

"Don't even worry about it!" I giggle so much I can feel myself tip over a little so my knees are knocking Rogue's.

I look at his face, his eyes are glazed, his mouth slightly ajar, it would be a shame if someone took advantage of that opening he left in his defenses. I grin to myself as I roll onto my knees and kicked one leg over his, straddling him with little to no resistance.

00000

*Rogue's POV*

Damn, my tolerance is way down, I feel drunk off my ass, only half the bottle in and I'm practically plastered, that's rough. I'm staring at Lucy, the small dark room is only illuminated by a slight gold glow coming from her body, it's bright enough so I can see fine, but then again, I'm a dragonslayer, I can see in the dark, Lucy however is not and can probably see pretty well. Though the light is still fairly dim.

Lucy licks her somewhat chapped lips, grinning, before getting on her knees and straddling me, grinding against my dick like nobody's fucking business.

I feel a groan crawling up my throat, but her lips descend upon mine and she catches it herself. My legs can barely lie down straight with how much space we have, and I find myself overthinking every aspect of this. If we fuck in here will lurkers here us from outside? Will we make too much noise? Is Lucy a screamer?

"Hey, don't think too hard, just fucking kiss me." Lucy backs away from my face by a fraction of an inch as she breathes out her words, commanding me to do as she says. I don't know if she wants a verbal answer but I don't bother, now it's my turn to steal her lips and her moans. I close the gap between our mouths again, and as we're pretty much wrestling with our tongues for dominance, I unzip her sweater. She pulls her arms through the sleeves briskly and hangs them on my shoulders and around my neck. She breaks the kiss to back up again and slip her loose tshirt over her head and dropped it on the floor on top of her fleece sweater. I look at her, I mean really look at her, and she is sexy as hell, I feel my mind fogging up again. Her hooded eyes are inviting me to finish what we started, but also sending a hidden message. She'll be the one to dominate me tonight, she knows it, but me, I'm not so sure.

She leans forward, pressing a chaste kiss to my lips with her eyes wide open, daring me to blink, I don't. She smiles into the kiss and grabs my hands, bringing them to her back. I feel her bra clasp, I smirk and slide my tongue along her top lip as I unhook her bra. She allows me entrance past her lips and slides her own tongue past mine. I know my boner is definitely tenting my loose sweatpants, based on the general discomfort and the fact that she had since began grinding against my dick again and I can feel everything.

She shimmies the bra off and breaks out kiss to drop it on her growing pile of clothes. She roughly unzips my sweater and tugs it off, I lift my arms a little to make it easier, but part of me wants to let her do it. I want to see how badly she wants it. How badly she wants me. After my sweater is added to her pile of clothes she mumbles "Lift your arms." Directly into my ear and I oblige, as she rips my tshirt over my head I see a small smirk tug at her lips.

"Like what you see?"

I return the smirk. "I don't know, do you?"

Lucy brings her hands up to her breasts. Her fingers covering most of her nipple, though the areola is still visible. Cupping her tits, causing them to look as though they would spill from the confines of her hands at any minute, but also somehow completely secure. It's fucking magical.

I look back up at her, "Yeah."


	21. Chapter 21

*Lucy's POV*

My tears only stopped slipping down my face when Rogue gently laid me down on the couch after we'd both come down from that hazy high that ensues sweet, wordless sex.

He'd done much better than last time, I guess it really was sloppy since he'd been so drunk. Well... We were both drunk, but I'm a well coordinated drunk, unlike Rogue apparently.

I stare at the ceiling as I feel the last of my tears dry up, followed by that not-uncomfortable-but-definitely-not-comfortable tight skinned sensation that always accompanies dried tears.

"I left a can on the kitchen counter for your breakfast," I breathe the words out, knowing Rogue would hear them no matter how quietly I uttered them.

"Thanks," He said softly.

He pulls his pants back up, we'd only really yanked them roughly 5 inches down in our hurry. I didn't mind.

He almost reaches for his shirt and sweater but gets lazy and pulls his arm back to his lap before taking a deep breath and getting off the couch to go eat his breakfast quickly before we get going.

"Hey," He catches my attention as my mind drifts off, "this is gonna sound weird but since we've already fucked twice there's no shame I guess... Um.. Are you on birth control?" He blurts out, I freeze and look at him.

"What?" My eyes widen.

"I mean, we don't have access to condoms, but I forgot to ask if you were on birth control."

"No, I'm not... Where would I even get that, the way things are?"

"I don't know, your spirits? Grabbing them from a pharmacy on a food run? Anything?" He looks panicked. I need to calm him down. I'm not panicking... Why am I not panicking?

"Hey, it'll be fine, my family has a history of difficult conceptions. It took my mother and father like 4 years to conceive me. I won't get pregnant." I hope I'm telling the truth, though for some reason I find I am completely calm, maybe because I spent all my emotional energy for today already.

"If you say so." Rogue sounds unsure but less panicked. Good.

He uses his sharp teeth to bite open the can of fruit, making a few holes before chugging the juice that came out as he tipped the can and his head back.

"Let's get going." I get up before feeling something unsettling run down my inner thigh.

I look down, it's Rogue's semen, not completely coagulated. It's slowly making its way to the floor.

I look up to Rogue, he has fully opened the can and is quickly gobbling the contents. I walk to the stairs and run up the stairs and to the bathroom. Mavis, there better be some goddamn running water in this house, plus I kinda have to pee. I try the sink, it works, I shut off the sink quickly and start the shower, testing to see if the water still runs hot. It does. Thank Mavis.

I hop into the shower and leave the shower curtain back, turning to the mirror cabinet. My hair is matted and bloody. My face is muddy. But I've still looked worse, I look like a post apocalyptic cave queen.

I step further under the strong hot stream of water, closing my eyes, pulling my hair back out of my face. I open my eyes to check for soap, there's a little bar on the side of the sink, I step out carefully into the bath mat and grab the soap.

As I'm turning back to the shower I see Rogue outside the doorway, it looks like he was going to the bedroom for something, he's not close to the door, so I assume I left it unlocked.

"You want a shower next?" I offer, shrugging.

He looks down at his still shirtless body and sighs, "Yeah, that'd be good. Let's get going in 15."

I nod and get back in the shower.

After lathering the soap and trying to finger comb my hair(not so successfully) I get out of the shower, leaving rogue 5 minutes until the time he said we'd be leaving.

"I'm done!" I holler, before wondering if I should be even more quiet, what if a walker outside hears me.

Rogue slides out of the room missing a bed, "Thanks." He says as he strips and steps into the still running shower.

I remember my clothes are still downstairs, shit. It's kinda cold, since I'm only wearing a towel. This sucks.

I look at the room Rogue came from, I get the feeling there's more to it than he's letting on, but I don't know if I want to know.

I turn and hurry downstairs, throwing on my clothes and socks before putting my keys into my sweater pocket.

I hear Rogue pad down the stairs, I pick up his shirt and sweater, tossing them to him as I shoved my feet into my shoes.

Rogue smells pretty clean, despite having worn the same clothes without washing them for changing them for a few days.

"Ready?" I say as I lace up my sneakers.

"Yeah," He says nonchalantly as he shoves his own feet into his shoes, after quickly pulling on his shirt and sweater.

I throw open the front door and look outside, there are a few zombies down the street, but they don't matter right now.

"Okay." I mumble as I break into a slow jog, down the stairs to the house and towards the forest. Rogue follows.

I look over at him as we jog through the woods quietly. He looks thoughtful. I wonder why. Oh well, I suppose he'll tell me if and when he wants me to know whatever's in his head.


	22. Chapter 22

*General POV*

After about thirty minutes of jogging Lucy began sprinting, not waiting for Rogue to catch up, since she knew he easily could and would as she sped past, around, and over trees, creeks, and raised tree roots. Rogue kept up easily, though he kept the distracted look on his face.

Rogue had been contemplating the possibility of Lucy getting pregnant ever since the conversation they'd had. He didn't know why she was so relaxed about it, her heartbeat didn't even change when he reminded her that she might get pregnant. He supposed her pregnancy possibility would be pretty low hereditarily, according to her. But she did say she had always wanted a big family, so does that mean she never would've been able to have it? Or maybe she'd need a doctor's help to get pregnant? 'She must've been pretty upset about that, before this whole zombie outbreak thing.' Rogue though to himself.

While in such deep thought, Rogue hadn't jumped in time and tripped, landing nose first in a small, cool rocky creek. The splashing noise alerted Lucy and she turned back around sharply, expecting to see a zombie.

"Easy, easy," Rogue put both hands in the air, his fringe matted to his face, covering his eyes, due to the water. "Still just me." He explained unnecessarily.

Lucy walked over to the small creek, it was only roughly 6 feet wide, Rogue could've easily jumped it. Lucy looked at her companion, who had given up on exiting the cool water and was now just sitting in the water with his hands in front of him, he was feeling a bit overheated from running for a while, as was Lucy, though she showed more self control and managed to just stand next to the creek, though she felt a slight urge to step into it and let the cold water cool her off.

"Rogue," Lucy whined "let's go! We're almost back to the group."

Lucy was excited to see the rest of her family again and anxious as to if they were still okay.

"Fine, fine." Rogue was also somewhat anxious, though a part of him just wanted some alone time, which he had a feeling he wouldn't get for a long time after they got back.

He stood up and violent shook off as much water as he possibly could before wading out of the creek and joining Lucy.

They began to run again, though this leg of their run was in friendly silence, rather than one-person-is-in-deep-thought-and-the-other-is-worried kind of quiet.

Once the pair had made it back to the tiny cabin the pack welcomed them back enthusiastically.

"We were about to get worried! So what'd you bring us?" Natsu said with a grin as he and Gray engulfed Lucy in a hug.

"We got tons of shit. Virgo's storing it." Rogue said quickly, feeling uncomfortable seeing other men so close to Lucy.

"Great, can we get some? We ran out of food yesterday at about lunchtime." Laxus asked as Cana leaned her head into his chest.

"Sure, sure." Lucy shrugged Natsu and Gray off and stepped back a bit before summoning Virgo, who appeared with an armful of random foods.

"This isn't everything, but it's easier to leave the bulk of it with Virgo until we need it." Lucy explained as the group descended upon the pile of food Virgo left on the floor before shimmering back to her world.

As the rest of the pack began tearing open packaging and opening bottles and gobbling down Lucy and Rogue's finds, Rogue and Lucy made eye contact, holding it briefly before Lucy looked back at their friends sitting on the floor, still eating messily.

*Rogue's POV*

Everyone else has finished eating and we pushed the trash behind the couch since there was so much of it and no trash can or really anywhere else to put it. Lucy and I don't eat, I'm not really hungry yet, I guess she isn't either.

Since we got back, Levy's been glued to Lucy's side, same as usual I guess. What does annoy me though are the glares Levy constantly throws my way.

We've been talking with everyone, briefing the trip for the others, making small talk, until it got dark and everyone began to get comfy for sleep.

Natsu and Gray claimed the bed, Laxus and Cana crammed their long lanky bodies onto the couch, Cobra sat against a wall and Yukino situated herself sitting in his lap, Gajeel sat against another wall, keeping one eye open and on Lucy. Lucy, Wendy, and Levy were all in a sort of dogpile, hug-type thing on the floor, beginning to doze off lazily.

I stare at Gajeel from the opposite wall. Seriously fuck that guy. why's he always gotta stare at Lucy like that? She's obviously mine now. Damn him.

Now that I think about it, Lucy and I aren't actually dating or really anything... We specifically said it was casual. But she's still mine.

'Damn you, Gajeel.' I think as I feel my eyelids weigh themselves down.

*Lucy's POV*

I don't know when I fell asleep, but I feel myself slowly being lifted, it's as if the weights on my body are being removed. It's almost blissful, until the cold hits me and I am forced to open my eyes.

I see two bright, glowing red eyes before me. Gajeel. Or Rogue? I breath in deeply, I smell pine, cinnamon, and a sharp metallic smell, like blood. The smell seduces me instantly. It's Gajeel's scent.

I blink a few times before looking down at the floor Gajeel had lifted me from. It dawns on me that the weights that had been removed from me were the appendages of Levy and Wendy. In wake of my absence, they began to hug each other, probably drawn to each other's warmth.

Gajeel brings his mouth to my ear, I can see his neck stretched out deliciously before me, highlighted with the dim moonlight. His lips tickle my ear as he whispers, the action feels forbidden, erotic even.

"Let's talk, Bunny." His voice a gruff whisper. I suppress a shiver I feel tingle at the base of my neck. I nod. Gajeel walks us to the front door, cradling me in a bridal hold. His footsteps make no noise and we make it outside noiselessly. He walks us a good ways away, I know I should be anxious, since it is night time, and we are in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and all, but I can't seem to find it in me to care. All I can think of is Gajeel's sexy scratchy whisper, I need to hear more.

He stops almost abruptly, setting me down on my feet, but holding onto my hips. This is gonna be fun.

He leans down, he's about to kiss me, I can tell. I close my eyes and wait for him to make contact. I generally don't like to play a submissive role, but I figure I'll just take more control later, I'll let him have this one. I feel nothing and open my eyes a little to find Gajeel staring at me with a burning look in his eyes.

"Can I?" He asks. I admire the fact that he asked for consent but I can't help but feel frustrated that I hadn't been kissed yet. So I decide I'd rather mess with him a bit, I can flip the tables.

"Can you what?" I smirk, backing away from him a few inches eyes glow even brighter.

"Can I do what you want me to?" He says, keeping eye contact with me. I feel my willpower to mess with him dissolve.

"And what do you think that is?" I say breathily before I run out of the strength to say it.

"You tell me." Gajeel whispers as he smirks in an almost sadistic manner. I feel a sudden twitch down under.

"Fuck me." I whisper so quietly, I almost fear he can't hear me.

As if floodgates are released, he is on me, his lips on mine, our chests pressed together, before I really realize I'm doing it, my legs wrap around his waist. His hands slide down to under my ass to support me.

Gajeel pulled back from me to utter one word, "Okay."


	23. Chapter 23

*General POV*

In the early hours of the morning Lucy and Gajeel crept back into the cottage, not waking any of their sleeping friends, though one person in particular had been lying awake for a while before hearing something outside. Before they moved to get up and shake off the woman cuddling them in her sleep, to check what the sound had been, the door opened and they recognized Lucy sneak inside, her blonde hair illuminated by the moonlight, followed by the larger, bulkier figure of Gajeel. Laxus could tell as soon as they entered the small living space that the two mages had been all over each other. A dragon's nose doesn't lie.

Laxus continued to watch the couple, curious and intrigued, but cautious not to awaken Cana.

Lucy put her hand on Gajeel's shoulder briefly, a quick good night, or perhaps 'good job'.

Laxus smirked to himself as he watched Gajeel sit back where he'd been when everyone initially went to sleep, and Lucy ease herself back next to Wendy, after she realized it would be practically impossible to get back between Wendy and Levy, where she'd initially been. Lucy hugged Wendy, and her breathing quickly shallowed.

Laxus looked back at Gajeel, who seemed to be awake, but just barely.

Gajeel was hovering on the edge of consciousness. His eyes were only partially open, and didn't seem to see anything. Laxus had a feeling Gajeel would fall asleep very quickly.

Laxus had not been too surprised seeing Lucy and Gajeel sneak in together, after Rogue and Lucy left, lots of couples snuck off at randoms times to be alone, Cana and Laxus included.

Laxus found himself grinning as he remembered the way Cana had responded to his touch and how aggressively she'd met his advances.

With images of Cana purring over him and mewling under him, Laxus found himself finally drifting off to sleep.

*Wendy's POV*

I wake up a little early, I can tell the sun is just beginning to come up. I sigh and lightly squeeze Lucy a bit harder. A familiar but uncomfortably close scent assaults my senses.

Why on earth is Gajeel so close? I open my eyes to a sharp, bright sunrise shining through a dirty window. I take a sharp breath, moaning "mmmmmmgh"

The blue mass in front of me huffs and squirms. Wait, what? That's not Lucy, I squint and wait for my eyes to refocus before I recognize Levy, who is embracing me as I'm hugging her as well.

Upon further investigation, Gajeel's scent is directly behind me, but also far from me, i can tell the scents are coming from two sources. Both smell of Lucy as well, not just Gajeel.

A realization hits me, i sit up suddenly, ripping my arms from under and around Levy, who complains quietly and rolls over facing away from me.

I turn my head to look at Lucy, she's peacefully sleeping next to me, one of her arms was probably holding me sometime during the night but is now draped across my lap since i sat up it probably moved.

Lucy's sleeping face is unlike any other, she looks like an angel in the way I'll never be, not anymore anyway. I bring my right hand to Lucy's face and caress it, suddenly feeling years older as if Lucy was my daughter or younger sister. Her thick-but-not-that-long eyelashes fluttered momentarily before stilling again.

"You.. shit stain." Lucy whispered, her facial expression unchanging. I pull my hand back and watch Lucy for any signs she's awake, before resigning to lie down on my left side to stare at Lucy's decidedly sleeping profile.

*Gajeel's POV*

I don't need much sleep to function, so I'd been lying awake for about an hour when I noticed Wendy start stirring, eventually she sat up and looked from Levy to Lucy.

I find myself suppressing a growl, which is ridiculous, Wendy's 13, a child, though she is a dragonslayer, maybe that's what's triggering this.

Wendy brings one of her tiny hands to Lucy's face, i can't see what she's doing because of where I'm sitting. Wendy's body is blocking my view of Lucy's face and subsequently, of Wendy's hand.

After what feels like for-fucking-ever, Lucy begins sleep talking, I'm assuming, calling someone a "shit stain", i find myself silently chuckling. Leave it to Lucy to accidentally insult someone in her sleep.

Wendy's hand flies to her side,she promptly lies back down and turns onto her side to face Lucy. What feels like hours pass, I can tell Wendy's just staring at Lucy at this point. Wendy's no fool, I'm sure she knows what Lucy and I did based on how we smell. When everyone else wakes up all the other slayers will know it too.

I can't stop the satisfactory grin from creeping onto my face. They'll know she's mine.

*Rogue's POV*

I wake up to the sound of others eating, I refrain from opening my eyes, trying to trick myself i to falling back to sleep.

No surprise, it doesn't work.

I crack my eyes open and look around the room. Everyone but Laxus, Cobra, and Yukino is awake and eating trail mix that seemed to have been recently brought by Virgo.

As I ease my weight off the wall i slept against, i feel a mild ache in my neck. I ignore the mild pain and stand to walk over to the coffee table, where there are several cereal box sized bags of trail mix.

I grab one bag before my eyes flit to Lucy momentarily. She's looking at Levy who's speaking animatedly about some story she's read before.

Part of me wants to walk up to Lucy and just stop every other person from coming near her or talking to her.

It probably isn't healthy for me to feel so possessive over someone I'm not really even dating, but i think i love her.

I realize I've been standing in the same place for about 30 seconds, I must look strange. I hurry to my spot on the wall, sitting stiffly against it.

Lucy, Levy, Cana, and Wendy are now in a heated discussion over the easiest weapon to use against a lurker.

I stare at Lucy for a bit, taking in the way her hair falls down over her shoulders, almost as if she herself is a waterfall and her hair is cascading down to earth.

I take a deep breath, hoping to catch her scent in the air, I've missed smelling solely her since we returned. Not to say i don't like the pack, i just also really enjoy alone time with Lucy, who doesn't?

Her smell reaches my nose, instead of the usual calming sensation i get from Lucy's natural aroma, it is immensely dulled when i realized Lucy's scent is mixed with Gajeel's, and they both smell weakly of sex.

My previous optimistic mindset shatters as the repulsive mixed scent of metal, cinnamon, pine, strawberries, and lavender forces its way into my nostrils.

Seriously, fuck this guy. And what the hell, why would Lucy even have sex with him? We have our own little thing going on! I mean, we never agreed on being monogamous, or even labeling us, but it's still valid. What the hell.

I feel my jaw clench and unclench almost spastically, i need to get a grip on my emotions quick, or I'm gonna do something I'll regret.

But really... Was it not obvious i had claim to Lucy? Damn Gajeel.

Is it because we look alike? Are we both Lucy's type and she just couldn't choose so now she's just doing whatever she feels like? I mean, she can do what she wants i guess.. I mean, as long as she's happy. But it's pretty depressing that I don't seem to satisfy all her needs apparently.

But seriously, what the hell, Gajeel...

I mean, Lucy can do what she wants.. But isn't there some sort of honor code that should stop Gajeel from pulling this shit.

*Gajeel's POV*

Rogue is obviously mentally maiming me. Good.

All the dragonslayers should be able to easily smell that Lucy and I fucked. They'll all be able to know that she's mine.

I look at said Bunny Girl, she's talking with shrimp and Wendy. They're talking about some random shit, i don't care enough to figure out what words their clear syllables form.

I stare at Lucy for a while, watching the way her lips enunciate her words, and the way she uses her hands to speak, waving them around and making little signals to match her words.

I unintentionally find my eyes drawn to her rack, she'd peeled off her sweater earlier, draping it on the couch arm. Her tshirt loosely clung to her figure, but tightly enough that i could see the outline of her bra, which i know is a dark navy blue sports bra.

I tear my eyes away from Bunny's breasts back to her face, meeting her eyes.

She's smirking at me, she saw me. Like i give a shit, i wink at her quickly, mirroring her smirk for a split second. She flicks her tongue over her top lip, blood goes straight to my crotch. I shift my position so if my semi gets any more serious, no one would notice.

I look back up at Lucy when i finished situating myself, finding her eyes filled with an all knowing look, she's inwardly laughing at me. I feel a surge of pride and slight annoyance, that's my girl.

*General POV*

The pack relaxed in the cabin for a few hours before they called a "meeting".

"We need to find a bigger place to stay. We've been in this shitty cabin for too long and there's no room." Laxus pointed out.

"There isn't even an actual bathroom, just an outhouse..." Yukino added to the argument.

The majority of the pack nodded in agreement, the ones who hadn't nodded simply said "yeah".

"Where to now?" Rogue asked.

"Like hell if I know." Laxus shrugged.

"How was the town you two scouted? Were there lots of walkers?" Wendy asked Lucy.

"There were enough to be an issue, but no gigantic hordes." Lucy said thoughtfully.

"It's a bit too open to be a safe place to stay." Rogue added.

"Let's find some huge house somewhere, let's find some nice country house. It'll be nice to have space to move about again." Cana said dreamily.

"We should head out tomorrow." Cobra suggested.

Many nodded and/or hummed in agreement.

"I can scope out our current area, and we can take off first thing tomorrow morning." Wendy stood up, walking to the door not even waiting for any agreement or other opinions.

*Gray's POV*

I move to the kitchenette and grab a can of beef stew, snatching a spoon, and taking a seat on the hideous, floral print couch. Natsu's slightly calloused hand takes the can from my hand and heats it up quickly from the bottom, so the sides of the can stay at a temperature i can manage to hold.

"Thanks babe," I give him a quick peck on the cheek after he opens the can for me and hands it back.

The stew is slightly metallic tasting from being in a can for so long, but it's not bad.

I look at Natsu, who had since sunk to the floor and scooted over to Lucy and was engaged in a heated, whispered conversation.

How strange. I'm curious, but hunger comes first, I continue to scarf down the mediocre stew, stopping only when the can in empty, excluding a thick layer of meaty broth coating the insides of the can.

"...Gajeel...Night..." I only catch scraps of their conversation and am starting to feel left out.

"What's happening?" I whisper yell as i crawl on the floor like an overgrown toddler.

Lucy and Natsu glance at eachother, before Lucy nods and Natsu leans over and whispers excitedly into my ear.

"Lucy and Gajeel had sex last night! And she had a taste of Rogue on their trip too!" Natsu grinned wickedly as he spat out the words.

"What! really?" I look at Lucy, it's not that i don't believe Natsu, it's just hard to think of someone I think of as my little sister fucking around like that. Props to her though, must take guts and not to mention stamina.

I shiver, feeling fairly uncomfortable with my train of thought.

"I mean-" I'm cut off by Wendy stomping back into the cabin.

"Time to go." She briskly says, taking quick strides to the kitchenette and scooping up the leftover food from the counter and turning to drop it in Lucy's lap. Everyone sat silently, watching Wendy with matching confused stares.

"You heard me, let's go!" Wendy says, exasperated. "There's a small horde coming our way. I mean, i guess we could stay here and keep quiet and wait it out, but we were gonna get going anyway. We might as well just leave early, if we head a little northeast there's a big mountain. At the bottom of the mountain there were some houses, spread pretty far apart, we should be pretty safe, it seemed pretty secluded."

No one moves.

"LET'S FRICKING GO, DO YOU NEED A FRIGGING INVITATION?!" Wendy is obviously losing her temper. She must be under a lot of stress right now. I should make this easier for her.

I get up and pull Natsu up as well, we look around the room. As if awoken from a daze, everyone else jolts into action, we're all hauling ass. Lucy summons Virgo to take the food away, everyone starts sprinting out the door.


	24. Chapter 24

[2 month time skip]

*Levy's POV*

"Argh, FINALLY!" Yukino whines as she sinks into the king sized bed in the master bedroom.

"Haha!" Lucy pounces on the bed soon after, followed by Wendy.

I sit down on the edge of the bed, surveying the quaint bedroom.

It has pastel, almost sky blue walls. The walls are pretty bare, save for a 11x36 photograph of a calm beach.

There's a bed with a white frame and navy blue comforter and matching pillows, and a white desk with a navy swiveling rolly-chair. I stand up and pad over to sit on the chair. On the desk are random bills and fliers, checkbooks, receipts, post it notes, brightly colored pens, notes written by whoever else lived in the house, saying vague things like "getting groceries" and "went out, be back at 8".

Memories of better days, I suppose.

This house is the third one this month, ever since we left the cabin we stayed in when Mira and Sting... When we lost them.. We quickly found the group of houses around the base of the mountain, and discovered there were more higher up.

I sigh and pick up a red pen.

Ever since we abandoned that tiny cabin, We've been slowly working our way higher up the mountain, the higher we go, the less walkers there are. So we stay in one house for a week sometimes more, before scouting out another, just a bit higher and moving there for a bit. It's a bit of a hassle, but not too bad, considering the alternatives are diminishing.

For the past month or so, Lucy's been strange, sneaking away at night, disappearing for a few hours during the day, having ridiculous mood swings. Everyone's pretty worried, and if not worried then at the very least, fairly intrigued.

I scribble on a blank post it as my gaze falls on Lucy, who is currently tickling Wendy as Yukino sinks farther and farther into the covers, preparing to take the nap of her life.

The Dull scratch of pen on paper is cut off by a "tic" sound and promptly continues, albeit a pitch higher.

I look down and see that I'm now drawing on the smooth plastic desktop.

I sigh for what feels like the hundredth time today and wipe my thumb on the inconsistent red scribbles i left on the desk, they rub off immediately.

I look out of the window just to the right of the desk, overlooking a bit of the forest below the house. The sun's about to set and the blue walls are painted with a strong orange tinge.

"Stop- please-!" Wendy gasps between breaths, i turn and look at the scene.

"Never!" Lucy giggles, obviously taking pleasure in Wendy's harmless torture.

"Shut... up..." Yukino groans into a pillow, bringing her tiny hands to the edges of the oversized pillow and bringing them to her ears.

"Sounds like someone's jealous!" Lucy takes a break from tickling Wendy and edges over towards Yukino.

"Wha-?" Yukino doesn't stand a chance as Lucy turns on her now, yanking down the blankets a bit to gain access to Yukino's stomach.

"Face my wrath!" Lucy giggle yells as Yukino becomes her next victim, leaving Wendy almost dangling off the bed from her attempts to escape.

I suddenly feel grateful I'd given up my post on the bed, from the desk chair I'm safer than i could hope to be from Lucy's wandering hands.

"Pffft-" I cant stop myself from combusting in laughter, as I'm cackling i feel the tension leave my body. If Lucy can act like this, she must be okay, whatever is bothering her must not be too bad. I hope. As i wipe a tear from my eye i notice Yukino's squeals have halted, that can only mean one thing.

I blink my eyes a few times before i can properly see Lucy creeping across the room towards me.

Oh, Mavis...

*Gajeel's POV*

The on and off cackling and giggling from the master bedroom on the second floor of the new house is driving me crazy. It's goddamn ringing at the back of my head!

"Hey, you good, man?" Rogue puts his hand on my shoulder.

"Nah, i have the worst fucking headache." I groan, bringing my fingers to massage the bridge of my nose as I close my eyes.

"That blows." Rogue shrugs as he retracts his hand.

We've sort of become friends, i guess. Since it's not like we aren't gonna hafta get along, yakno, with us both screwing Bunnygirl and all.

I don't get to fuck with Bunny as often as I'd like but i guess it's enough. About twice a week isn't bad, i mean there's nothing else to really do, so I assumed we'd be fucking more often. But this arrangement's good too.

I know Rogue only gets like one fuck a week on average. I'm pretty lucky.

The laughing from the house stops and i look up at the window on the second floor, Rogue does the same.

We hear a twig break twenty feet or so away and turn to see Cana leading Laxus from the woods.

"Ay! Get some, Cana!" I holler, bringing my hands to make a cone in front of my mouth as i cheered on Cana.

Rogue joins in on the "whoop"-ing and Cana grinned wolfishly.

Laxus on the other hand was blushing a bit as he smiled meekly, looking as though he'd rather be anywhere but where in front of some huge house in the woods with us. Cana quickly dragged Laxus into the house, leaving Rogue and me outside alone again.

I look up at the orangey sky with the smallest remnant of a smile on my face.

"Hey," Rogue sounds like he's chewing on his words before he says them, "You've noticed, right?"

"Hmm?" My eyes shift down to meet his.

"You know? Lucy?"

"What about her?"

"Never mind.."

No no no, i hate when people do this shit. "No, what is it, man? Seriously."

"Nothing... Just... We should have Wendy check on her.." Rogue leaves it at that.

I stare at his for a while before i nod once and grunt. Maybe he smells something serious, a tumor or something. Or maybe it's something else..

Before we know it the sun has set and I'm ready to go inside, the dark has too many unknowns for my liking.

"I'm heading in, gonna do some exploring." I survey the outside of the fairly big house.

"I'll be in in a while, gonna eat." Rogue walks a bit farther from the house and stands feet shoulder width apart, i take that as my queue to leave.

Most of the slayers have been eating pretty rarely, including Cobra, Laxus, and kind of me. I mean finding poison and lightning is harder than finding iron or steel, so whereas i can eat silverware and other random finds, Laxus has to wait for a good storm or have Bunny bring some celestially preserved lightening, which is quite expensive in the celestial realm. While Cobra can tide himself over with anything remotely toxic to the human body or excessively acidic, like bleach and other cleaning fluids, vinegars, ect.

Now that I think about it, Bunnygirl could probably get us pretty much any element from the celestial world, it would just drain her energy, since she doesn't have any of their currency and doesn't like to use her spirits' cash, so her magical energy is converted into celestial currency so she can buy things via her spirits but still pay for them herself. It was a complicated process to understand at first but eventually it made sense.

I blink a few times and realize i zoned out just after coming in and sitting on a huge leather couch facing a fairly big flatscreen. Too bad there's no electricity, i get the feeling there's a surround sound system in here.

These people must've had mad money.

I push myself off the most comfortable couch i have ever been on and begin to walk around the first floor.


	25. Chapter 25

*Lucy's POV*

"It's just, i really love hiiiim. You know what I mean?" Yukino slurs "I know he's an anime character, but i think he loves me too.."

I stare at her blankly.

"I totally get it! I have a waifu too!" Levy throws her arms up dramatically.

I look at Wendy with an exhausted grimace on my face. She turns to me at the same time with the same tiredness etched on her face as well.

Earlier Levy was digging around the master bedroom and found a drawer of liquor in the desk. Of course Yukino had to help herself too, which is why Wendy, Yukino, Levy, and I ended up sitting on the floor of one of the 3 other bedrooms, excluding the master.

This room obviously belonged to some weeaboo teenager, the walls are painted with smooth black and white stripes, with dozens of random anime posters, doodles, and even candy wrappers. The book shelf is crammed with yaoi, yuri, shoujo, shounen ai, and adventure manga. On top of the bookshelf are about 20 or so anime action figures, some still in their boxes, some not. The queen size bed has a black frame, purple pillows, and a red comforter.

I get on my knees and lazily lunge onto the bed. The comforter smells faintly of weed and some kind of cheap, drugstore perfume.

I feel the weight of the bed shift as Wendy sits next to me.

I look at her, then at the other two, warning them for what feels like the hundredth time.

"Guys, you'll wake up Natsu and Gray!" I whisper yell.

"Sorry, babe." Levy drunkenly flirts. I roll my eyes, who knew she was such a floozy when she's drunk? Yukino and Levy continue rambling back and forth, almost as if i never interrupted them. Why do I even bother?

"Lucy," Wendy sounds like she has something important to say.

"Yeah?" I sit up and look her in the eye.

"I know." Wendy explains, badly.

"Know what?" I find myself in a state of utter and complete confusion.

"Lucy, I know that you're pregnant." Wendy says with a dead face.

My world crashes behind Wendy's eyes as I keep staring at her. My worst fear confirmed.

"But.. That's impossible. It's supposed to be way harder for me to get... What... You must be wrong." I fumble for words.

"Lucy. You know i can't be wrong."

"I mean, I've been looking for a test for a while. But i just thought it was just the stress stopping my period." I feel reality catch up with me. "No, wait, no! I can't have a baby here! Not now! Not with how it is out there!" I grab Wendy's shoulders as if she could stop what's already happened. "How long?!" I clutch Wendy tighter, bringing her closer like the lifeline she is toe right now.

"How long what?" Wendy brings her hands to my biceps, squeezing once, whether it's a sign I should loosen up or her trying to give me moral support, I can't tell.

"How long till it's born? How long till i show? How long since you've known?" The questions fall out of my mouth clumsily.

Wendy pauses for a few seconds before she responds, "I've known for about a week, I don't know when you'll start to show, it depends on the person. If you want the first answer, i have to check."

"GUYS, we're going back to the master room!" Yukino says as she waves and steps out, both her and Levy's arms full of manga from the shelves. As Yukino steps into the hallway, i see her brighten the light she's been steadily producing using her celestial magic. I sigh and power mine up a bit as well, without two of is in the room producing light it got significantly dimmer.

"Okay. Check. Please?" I sigh, bringing my hands to my still fairly trim stomach.

Without a word, Wendy motions for me to lie down, i do so and close my eyes. I feel like i could throw up any minute, there's cold sweat all over my forehead, back, neck, chest, and arms.

Wendy pulls up my t shirt and suddenly there are cool hands on my abdominal area.

I immediately tense and my eyes open.

"Calm down. This is nothing new, you aren't the first woman to accidentally get pregnant, it's gonna be okay." I can tell Wendy is trying to calm me down, it's almost working.

"I'll start now.." She whispers softly.

I nod and close my eyes again.

From behind my eyelids i can tell another light is in the room, i crack open an eye and look at Wendy, whose hands are glowing a pale, powdery blue.

I close my eye again and take a deep breath.

"Okay, i know now." I hear Wendy mumble.

"And?" I prop myself up on my elbows.

"You're probably going to give birth in about 6 months.."

My mind is reeling, "But i started having sex like barely two months ago.. Don't you mean 7 months?"

"Well.. Both of the fetuses are the children of dragonslayers, so they'll develop faster." Wendy says hesitantly. I breathe a sigh of relief, until i feel my blood run cold.

"Wait.. What did you say?" I feel panick scratching at my lungs, climbing it's way to my throat.

"... Both... You're having twins.."

"What?" I whisper, pushing myself to sit up properly.

"You're having twins. With different fathers." Wendy moves a hand to my shoulder, "You have my support. What is your plan? Are you going to tell them?"

"What?" I feel surreal.

This can't be happening. This is crazy. This is impossible. What...?

"Lucy.. You heard me. Breathe." Wendy calmly coaxes me.

"Oh shit.." I gasp, "What am I going to do!? I can't have two! Two human beings!? Oh my god!" I whisper shriek. "How am i gonna tell Rogue?! HOW AM I GOING TO TELL GAJEEL?!"

I bring my legs up and rest my hands on my knees before putting my forehead on my hands.

"Lucy, it's okay, you're not alone. We'll take care of you, we're your family." Wendy rubs my back soothingly.

"But i am alone.. None of you have been through this. None of you could possibly understand.. I can't have a kid. I can't have TWO kids! I can't bring children into this world, when i know they're going to die! What if i die and i can't take care of them?! What if i can't feed them or if i take my eyes off them for one second and they die?! I don't think i can handle that! I don't think I can handle this."

"Lucy, it's going to be okay, we're all here for you, we'll help you take care of them. They'll never be alone or unsafe, and neither will you!" Wendy's hands fly to my shoulders forcing me to look at her. "We will take care of you. All three of you." Wendy says with conviction.

"I don't want that. This is my problem. I'll solve it." I announce with finality. "Aries," i call as my fingers brush the keys in my pocket.

Aries appears in a flash of golden light.

"Yes, Lucy?" She mumbles, "Sorry."


	26. Chapter 26

"I need you to do me a quick favor." I sigh, I don't like this but it has to be done.

"Lucy, what?" Wendy's trying to figure out what I'm planning.

"Aries," Shrugging off Wendy's hands, i bring one of mine to knead my nose bridge. I really don't want to do this. "Use wool bomb to make sure no one outside this room can hear what is about to happen, make it so i can still use the door though."

"Lucy... Don't you mean we? So we can get out?" Wendy sounds anxious.

"Alright. Sorry." Aries bows as she follows my order.

The room is soon padded with thick, fluffy pink wool, "Sorry, Wendy." I close my eyes, "Aries, I'm going to need you to gag Wendy and tie her up so she won't be able to free herself, for at least a few hours, if no one finds her."

"Okay, for you, Lucy." Though I'm not looking, I can tell Aries is bowing again.

I hear a quiet, cushioned thump, signaling Wendy has been sat down comfortably. I open my eyes apprehensively, i didn't want it to come to this. I didn't want to do this. But i need to leave.

I turn for the door, just before i pull it open i turn my head to Wendy. "I'm sorry, but I need to go. I love you. All of you. Tell that to them for me?" I sigh sorrowfully, "Don't tell them about the babies please? Just do me a solid. I might come back to find you guys, but it'd be far in the future, probably after the babies die. Because i know they eventually will. But I'll give them a chance, it's all i can do. Wendy, don't follow me." I look back at the door and yank it open, Aries walks through the door before me and I follow. Closing the door without looking back, i don't think i can handle looking at Wendy's tear stricken face one more time.

"Aries," My voice is weak and squeaky from me trying not to cry, "Thank you, I'm sorry you had to do that. You can go now."

"As you wish Lucy." Aries plants her hand firmly on my shoulder, giving me a sad but supportive smile before glimmering back to her home.

"Virgo," I call, she appears before me. "Can you bring most of the food i have in storage out for me? Leave me, like, 4 days worth of food please?" I ask.

"Yes, Hime." Virgo bows and disappears, quickly returning with armfuls of food, placing them silently on the floor before returning to the spirit world and bringing more food back, until there's a pile the size of three dead bodies at my feet.

"Thanks." I dismiss her.

"For you, Princess." She bows as she returns to her world.

I pad down the hallway as quietly as I can manage, before sighing and turning to get one last look at everyone.

I get to the master bedroom at the end of the hall, peeking through the cracked door. Yukino and Levy are both lying like starfish on the huge bed. Except Levy is on her stomach and Yukino is on her back. I smile a little as i look at the two of them, two parts of my family. I love them.

I back up and turn to the guest bedroom, opening it slowly. Natsu and Gray are on the king size bed, spooning each other.

I quietly close the door and tiptoe farther down the hall, to the last bedroom, opening it to see two twin beds, Gajeel in one and Cobra in the other. Between the two beds, Laxus and Cana are sprawled out sloppily on the floor, with Laxus' right arm over her stomach and her left leg lying across his.

I sigh as i close the door just as painstakingly slow as I'd opened it. I haven't seen Rogue, so he must still be up.. I'll have to either sneak by him or tell him i need air and he should go ahead to sleep.

As I'm developing several backup plans, i realize it's already too late to change my mind. I've already tied Wendy up. I've already betrayed everyone and told Wendy I'm leaving.. Even if i did stay, they'd all find out I'm pregnant. And I'd be a burden. I don't want to be a weight for everyone to carry. I can manage this. I can raise these kids alone if they can be strong enough to survive. I can only hope my stupid actions and inexperience don't get them killed.

I place my hand on my stomach. My babies are two months old, that gives me five for me to get somewhere safe and remote and find baby stuff.

Before i know it, I'm at the bottom of the stairs, i take a deep breath and stride towards the door with a purpose, preparing to be stopped at any moment.

I stop at the door, turning and looking, why haven't i been stopped? How strange.

I spot Rogue on the couch, He's totally asleep. I guess this makes things easier..

I smile a little and open the door, still looking at Rogue as I step outside.

I only make it roughly 30 yards down the driveway before it starts raining. Fan-fucking-tastic.

I sigh and keep walking until i reach the mountain road, i begin walking downhill.

I have no idea where I'm going.

Shit.

But i still can't go back. I've cemented my betrayal by walking out that front door.

I have no place to go anymore.

I shiver as the cold seems to seep into my bones.

I'm going to have to find a place to stay for now. But i need to get far enough away that they won't be able to track or smell me. The rain takes care of the smell and the trail, but i still need distance if this is going to work.

I sigh as i trudge farther down the road, soaked to my core.

As the sun rises, the rainfall lightens up a bit and i feel the cold really start to set in. I've been walking for who knows how long, i know the rain has washed away my trail and scent, the pack definitely can't find me. At least not so easily. I'm maybe about 8 miles from the mountain base, and roughly 20 from the nearest big city. I must be about 100 miles from Magnolia. That's where i want to go. Back home.

I summon Loke wordlessly as i trudge along.

"Loke, can you get Virgo to bring me clothes then come back and carry me for a bit? I need to sleep for a while..." I sigh heavily.

"Of course, Lucy." I see him smile kindly at me from the corner of my eye as I continue walking along the road that would eventually lead me to Fairytail.

"Princess!" Virgo appears in a bright gold flash, with a small bundle of clothes in her arms.

"Here, punishment?" She says as she bows quickly.

I peel off my soggy sweats and underwear and replace them with the dry clothes Virgo provided, "No punishment this time. Thank you, Virgo." I smile as she takes my wet clothes and disappears, her place taken almost instantly by Loke.

"Let's get going." Loke grins confidently as i wrap an arm around his shoulders and he lifts me into a princess hold.

"Go ahead and sleep, I'll wake you up if you need to be awake." Loke assures me as he begins running in fluid and powerful strides.

My eyelids are weighed down, and though i know i can trust Loke, i feel as though my trust is about to be put to the test.

"Okay, just, take care of me?" I mumble drowsily.


	27. Chapter 27

*Rogue's POV*

"Wake UP NOW!" Wendy's voice slips through my curtain of sleep, leaving me awake, disoriented, and dissatisfied.

"What the fuck?-" I hear Cana groan upstairs.

"What the hell, Wendy?" A probably hungover Levy grumbles, followed by a loud thump and a low groan. She probably fell out of bed.

I stand up, better head upstairs to see what's got Wendy so riled up.

As I'm halfway up the stairs, i hear Wendy yell "Lucy left! We need to find her!"

"What?-" The words dribble out of my mouth as i miss a step and trip on the stairs, hitting my shin on a wooden step hard.

"Shit..." I hiss as I continue limping up the stairs.

"Bunny's gone?" Gajeel looks doubtful, "Why?"

Wendy opens her mouth, obviously about to say something important before her devastated visage shifts into a blank one and she stops herself, "No idea." She blandly replies.

"Bullshit, Wendy. You know we can hear your heartbeat, you're lying through your teeth." Laxus stumbles out into the hall to join the rest of us, soon followed by Cana.

"Rogue, you were downstairs all night, right? Did you see her?" Gajeel turns to me. Everyone else follows suit.

"No... I was knocked out, i ate last night after dark so i got pretty drowsy.." I guiltily rub the back of my neck.

"SHIT, how are we gonna find her?" Gray asks as he hugs Natsu tightly, most likely trying to stop Natsu from charging outside and making anything more complicated than it needs to be.

"Look, she left the food. Does that mean she didn't keep any for herself? Is she going out to..." Yukino doesn't even have to finish her sentence for us all to imagine Lucy plotting her suicide.

"Shit, let's go!" I turn to run down the stairs.

"No," Wendy sighs, bringing her hand to cover her eyes, "Without Lucy our ability to travel as a group with all our supplies is pretty much gone."

"So now what?" Cobra looks at Wendy.

"I suggest we have the dragonslayers spend the day, each going in different directions to try to catch her scent, and whether or not they find it, or her, we all come back here by dark. Then if we do catch a scent, we have to remember where it started and be able to lead everyone back tomorrow. The sun just rose, so we have a good 10 or 11 hours of daylight to work with." Wendy strategizes, bringing her hand from her forehead to cup her chin.

"Okay, let's fucking go already!" Natsu breaks out of Gray's hold and pushes past me down the stairs.

"Natsu, wait, we have to assign directions!" Wendy calls after him.

0000"

*Lucy's POV*

When i wake up, Loke's still running just as fast as he was when he started.

I lift my hand to his chest to let him know I'm awake, looking down at me, he slows to a trot before stopping completely.

"How long have i been asleep?" I ask him, snuggling my head to his shoulder, letting his scent wash over me. Loke has always smelled so comforting, I'm sure there's no name for his natural scent, but he's always smelled clean but musky, in the best possible way.

"It's been maybe three hours." Loke says with a slight smile on his face.

"How far would you say we are from home?" I sigh, thoughts of Natsu, Yukino, and the others washing over me.

"We've come about 60 miles, I'd say." Loke looks at the now clear sky.

I look around us, we're on a road, though this one is far wider than the mountain road we were on when i fell asleep. There aren't many trees near by, though there are vast fields of what i suspect is wheat, and maybe margarine.

"-cy? Lucy?" Loke's voice comes into focus.

"Yeah?" I redirect my focus to his face.

"Did you hear me?" He looks concerned.

"Hear what?"

"I can get us home in two more hours, if you like, but your magical energy isn't looking too good. I can do it with my own magic." Loke offers, ever the loyal lion, i suppose.

"No, no. That'd be a lot of your energy to be out for that long! I can't ask that of you." I mumble as i try to figure out an alternative.

"Princess..." I refuse to look at Loke, he knows i hate him, especially, calling me that, "Lucy." I feel my eyes slide over to meet his, though my pouting continues. "Lucy, it's okay. I don't mind using up extra energy for you."

I know in the end i have no choice, I'd either have to camp out in the middle of a field until my energy replenishes or take Loke's help. I shouldn't feel so guilty, Loke is my friend and my spirit. We have a strong spirit-mage connection, possibly the strongest in fact. We really have a bond like no other spirit and mage have maintained, after i saved his life, and he became my spirit, now he's arguably my most powerful spirit.

"Fine..." I mumble as i continue my long winded mental monologue.

Loke isn't my best friend, though maybe in the future we will be, especially in light of recent events, though we have a bond that none of my human friends could possibly understand or cultivate, except.. Maybe Yukino would under the right circumstances.

Loke readjusts his hands, tightening his hold on me as he started sprinting again. As he starts running i feel the drain on my magical energy lessen until it totally disappears.

I close my eyes, ready for another power nap, "Thank you, Loke."

"Anything, for you, Lucy." I hear Loke murmur into my ear in a low voice.


	28. Chapter 28

*General POV*

After 30 minutes of frantically crashing through the woods, Natsu caught the smallest whiff of Lucy's scent as he came to a clearing next to the mountain road.

"I'm all fired up!" Natsu growled to himself as he powered up fire dragon's roar to shoot into the air to signal the others.

"What is it?! Did you find her!?" Wendy shot down from a perch in a tree not far from the clearing.

"I smelled her for a second!" Natsu explained as he began to intensely sniff the air.

"Wait," Natsu turned back to Wendy,

"What were you doing in that tree? Were you watching me?" Natsu raises an eyebrow as he stares Wendy down.

"Well-" Wendy began before Cobra and Laxus trampled into the clearing from the forest.

"Anything?" Cobra crossed his arms as Laxus straightened out his sweater.

"Natsu smelled her, but now we don't." Wendy waves a hand in an expression of boredom.

"Yeah, but what were you doing when-" Natsu stopped suddenly and turned to the road, speed walking down it and stopping after roughly 100 yards.

"What is it?" Gajeel looks around as he jogs down the road to the rest of the dragonslayers with Rogue in tow.

"Here!" Natsu points at the ground, "I thought i smelled Luce, but it's just Loke!"

"That's bad. This is bad.." Laxus begins stroking his chin.

"What? How's Lucy being with Loke any worse?" Gajeel snapped.

"Oh.."Wendy finally put two and two together, "It means he was carrying her.. Which means she might be moving faster than she normally would be.. Meaning she could be hundreds of miles away by tomorrow..." Wendy covered her eyes with her hands and took a deep breath.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.." Cobra groaned.

"Shit!" Gajeel stared furiously at the sky overhead.

"So what now? Where do you think she's going?" Laxus looked at Wendy, who removed her small hands from her face.

"I don't know, she would probably go somewhere she knows, due to the predicament she's in.." Wendy speculated.

"What kinda 'predicament' are we talking about here?" Gajeel eyes Wendy suspiciously.

"That's for her to tell you all when we find her." Wendy glared at Gajeel with matching ferocity.

"Fine, but where would she go?" Cobra interrupted the staring match.

"She could've gone anywhere, she knows of many more places since joining Fairytail..." Wendy sighed, "But honestly she probably would've headed somewhere large and safe, and somewhere she is VERY familiar with. Which leaves her childhood home, the Heartfilia konzern, or Fairytail. Though, obviously I'm guessing so it's not written in stone or anything."

"That's a good place to start, good job, Wendy. I guess we should head back to the house and figure out what we're doing with everyone's input." Rogue pat Wendy on her head and began walking back up the road to their house.

Wendy let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding as Rogue walked away, she'd been feeling somewhat responsible for Lucy's absence for not being able to talk her friend out of leaving and for being so easily tied up and for so long, if she'd escaped earlier, they could've caught Lucy before she'd gone too far.

Rogue's small display of support did wonders for Wendy's state of mind.

*45 minutes later*

"So, to the Heartfilia mansion, then?" Gray asks for clarification.

"That would be closer, let's try there." Yukino nervously chews her pinky nail.

"Okay, so how far is it? And when do we leave?" Cobra scratches his head.

"MORE LIKE, how are we gonna carry all this food?" Levy brought up yet another issue

"We could collect bags from this house and other houses and leave tomorrow morning." Wendy grumbles, already wishing the day would just end.

*General POV*

Loke and Lucy made it to Fairytail in the early afternoon.

"Thanks, Loke." Lucy guiltily hops down from his hold, "You can go now, I can handle it from here."

"If you say so," Loke sighs as he leans down to kiss Lucy's cheek softly before vanishing in a violently bright flash.

Lucy looks at the front doors of the guild, feeling more fear than anything. The negative thoughts hadn't dawned on her til then that maybe she'd find some of her guildmates, either torn apart or reborn as zombies. She didn't want to see them like that, but she really needed more sleep, so she opened one of the doors painstakingly slowly, as she crept inside.

The main hall was in shambles, almost every table, chair, glass, everything, toppled over on the floor, some broken, some dented, some scratched up. Though in one corner a few chairs and tables had been stood back up and neatly rearranged, though nothing could hide the scratches and blood stains Lucy could spot from across the room that marred the wooden furnishings. 'It was probably Mira who tried to clean up,' Lucy thought to herself, "always trying to keep things perfect.'

She wistfully smiled to herself, "If only things could've been different."

"If only what could've been different?" Lucy heard a thud in front of her after the question had been posed.

She jumped back with a hand on her keys before she recognized the mage before her.

"Bickslow..." Lucy stared at his face as he lifted off his visor.

"Hey, cosplayer. How's it going?" He asked as if the world hadn't been in total chaos the past few months.

Lucy smiled softly, "A little rough, but nothing I can't handle."

"Hey, one sec, JUV! GET DOWN HERE!" Bickslow hollers up to the rafters.

Lucy looked up, "Juvia?"

Quickly a shadowy blob fell from the ceiling, and after hitting the ground shifted from liquid to a solid form.

"Ah, love rival, good to see you again. Though i suppose we are not love rivals anymore.." Juvia stepped forward to hug Lucy, who gratefully returned the gesture.

As the two women hugged Lucy asked "What do you even mean?"

"Bickslow is Juvia's love now." Juvia whispers into Lucy's ear.

"Oh, but you know, i never even liked Gray like that.. Plus he's with Natsu." Lucy giggled.

"Something tells me we have a lot of catching up to do." Juvia steps out of the hug with a small smile on her lips.

"Yeah, i guess we do.." Lucy sighs, knowing she'll probably have to come clean to Bickslow and Juvia if they all chose to stick together.


	29. Chapter 29

*3 days later* *General POV*

"Well... We're finally here..." Gray sighed as the group stared at the front door of the Heartfilia konzern.

"After that long ass walk from the gates to here, are we really gonna stop at the goddamn front door?" Laxus stepped up to the door, preparing to grab the handle and force his way inside if need be.

"Wait, be car-" Yukino reached out a hand to rest on Laxus's arm to warn him, but he acted too quickly.

Laxus threw the door open, literally, throwing the door a few yards to the right.

"God dammit, Laxus!" Rogue sighed, "What if we just compromised the safety of the house?"

"What house? It's a damn mansion." Laxus scoffed as he strolled through the threshold.

"Nothing dangerous, see?" Laxus turned back to the pack, who continued standing under the doorway apprehensively.

If Laxus wasn't being so cocky, he might've noticed a walker on the second floor slowly making it's way to the top of the stairs.

"Laxus..." Cana tried to point it out, though she was in no hurry, it was still so far away, since the entrance hall was practically the size of a ballroom, that the walker held no real threat yet.

"Um..." Even Natsu was at a loss for words.

"Laxus.. Up there.." Wendy finally broke the awkward silence, pointing up to the second floor.

Laxus swivels his head quickly, "Oh, were you all worried about lil ol' me?" He teased, "That old bastard is like 100 yards away, and on a different floor, I'm totally fine." Laxus smirks as he looks back at the zombie.

"Better safe than sorry." Yukino mumbles as Gajeel sent an iron spear to pierce the zombie's head.

"Well... I don't smell Lucy..." Rogue stated blankly, voice devoid of emotion.

"Yeah..." Cobra sighed "Me neither. She hasn't been here in a very long time."

"Let's check it out anyway, we already came all this way." Cana began walking towards the stairs. "I wanna see where Lucy grew up."

"Me too.." Wendy followed.

"I'm curious..." Levy shrugged, everyone else followed quietly.

"It's creepy..." Natsu complained as he and Gray followed the pack up the stairs, holding hands.

"It's abandoned." Gray explained.

"I'm bored.. Let's just go find Luce." Natsu whined.

"You and I both know it isn't that easy." Gray squeezed Natsu's hand, "But we will soon."

"Anyone know where Lucy's room is?" Cana halted at the top of the stairs, looking at the east and west wings of the building with a befuddled expression.

"I know!" Natsu picked up a very faint scent similar to Lucy's present smell. "I can smell it!" Natsu ran down the main hall of the west wing, passing roughly 20 doors before stopping and turning abruptly and shoving a door open.

"Here! This is i-!" Natsu stopped yelling as soon as he took in his surroundings.

He'd led the pack to a large bedroom. Even Natsu could tell in a matter of seconds that he had not led the group to Lucy's room.

The room was painted a dusty pink that had faded significantly over the course of what had obviously been decades. There was a 4 poster king bed against the far wall, with a pastel pink, yellow, and green flowered comforter and sheet set. There were bookshelves lining almost every inch of free wall, from the floor to the (ridiculously high) ceiling, there was only one space where there were no bookshelves, and the pink wall was bare save for a portrait of... "Lucy!?" Gray spat out the name as more of a surprised exclamation than a question.

"That ain't Bunnygirl, she isn't that old." Gajeel inspected the portrait further.

"It's her mother's." Levy ventured. "We should leave..."

Everyone remained silent, every felt awkward and uncomfortable, as if they'd invaded someone's privacy, though none of them could really bring themselves to leave the room.

"Let's just... Get out..." Cana whispered as she backed out of the room.

After everyone had evacuated Layla's room and Rogue placed the door back over the doorway, unable to actually close it since Natsu had broken it, Wendy spoke up.

"So why didn't Lucy's mom and dad share a room?"

"It's not so uncommon in wealthier families for a husband and wife to each have private rooms. Plus.. Wasn't she sick? So her having her own room isn't so crazy.." Laxus explained quietly.

"So where is Lucy's room?" Cobra changed the subject.

"I guess it'd be on this wing, probably.." Yukino reasoned as she began walking farther down the hall.

"Natsu, smell harder. Do you smell her? Which room is it?" Levy pushed Natsu to the front of the group.

"I mean, scents can change over time, so maybe, between the time Luce lived here and when she met me, it changed?" Natsu tried to figure out why he couldn't pick up his best friend's scent.

"Let's just open all the doors and keep an eye for a teenage girl's room."


	30. Chapter 30

After 15 minutes of opening and closing doors and surprise zombie maid attacks, the pack came up with nothing and switched to the east wing.

It took another 7 minutes, but finally Gajeel opened a door that they quickly deemed to be Lucy's old room.

The walls were bubblegum pink, and while there were many books in the bookshelves around the room, she didn't have as many as her mother. The bed had a cotton candy blue design that was swirled with cute white and pale blue stars that covered the blanket and pillows while the sheets were the same design in, pink as the walls.

"It's cute." Cana stated as everyone broke apart to inspect the room.

On the white desk by the bed, there were several law and financing books left lying open and untouched for what must have been years. On the edge of the desk, next to a lamp, Cana noticed a princess figure, with a collection of princes, dragons, and other assorted figurines behind her.

"How cu-" She began, when she was interrupted by a loud, obnoxious creaking.

"This bookshelf swings out!" Levy had her fingers gripped on the side of a bookshelf three times as tall as she was. Though she stepped aside as Rogue came up to finish the job and pull out the shelf, which came out like a door, with hinges on one side.

"Coo-what the fuck?" Natsu started.

"Ahhh..." Laxus scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably.

The wall behind the bookshelf, and even the back of the book shelf was covered in quickly scribbled writing.

"Oh... Lu-chan..." Levy uttered her friends name under her breath.

The writing was mostly dates, scrawled out with what they could only assume we're Lucy's thoughts and/or feelings for the days noted.

"May 23, XX74: I hate it here, one day I'm going to go far away where he can't reach me. I'll get my own family."

"December 8, XX76: I'm going to get mommy's keys back one day, and I'll run away and join a guild, they'll protect me, they'll be my new family."

"August 30, XX73: He finally found mommy's keys hidden in my desk. He took them away. Now i have no friends and no magic... I'll have to get them back. Aunty Aquarius will be worried about me."

"April 12, XX77: I hate him. I hate him. I hate him."

"February 24th, XX82: He's been making me meet more 'suitors' lately... I need to start planning my departure. Staying here is a sure way to end up pushing out some old geezer's little monster heirs. Plan in development."

The pack read some of Lucy's wall-diary entries and felt as though they understood her in a new way, it was almost like watching her grow up. They could see how her thoughts changed over time and how her rage eventually faded out and became the white noise of a far louder issue, numbness.

They'd know her mother died when she was younger, and that her father had been anti-magic but they hadn't really realized that her childhood, and preadolescent life had been absolute shit.

"Damn..." Gray said distractedly as he continued reading Lucy's shelf/wall-diary.

After roughly ten minutes, the pack stepped back, uncomfortably basking in a very loud silence.

"... So she isn't here..." Wendy's voice squeaked.

"... So Fairytail, then?" Cobra tried to help Wendy move the awkwardness to make was for a much needed conversation to ease the tension.

"Yeah..." Laxus replied as he inspected the wall from afar, glancing at it wearily.

"Let's get going now, we could be there in two days if we head out now." Levy determined.

"Sounds good, let's go." Gajeel said as he followed everyone else out of the room that honestly gave him the creeps.


	31. Chapter 31

*General POV*

"Yeah, so that's how Cana and Laxus became an item." Lucy finally finished the run down on all the newly formed couples, as she continued scraping a fingernail against the old, unkept Fairytail wooden bar countertop.

"Great, great, that's interesting." Bickslow mock-yawned "So has anything actually interesting happened to you guys, or?" Bickslow asked before Juvia could reply, shifting in his barstool.

"Well... We lost Mira to a murderer.. And Sting.." Lucy found herself suddenly extremely focused on scratching the bar.

Juvia glared at Bickslow, making him cringe, as she got up to hug Lucy, who was already quietly sniffling, also getting up to politely receive her friend's hug.

"Are you alright though?" Juvia said as she rubbed Lucy's back in what she hoped was a comforting gesture.

"Aha-" Lucy choked a laugh, wiping her eyes before saying in a wistful voice, "I'm not okay, I really messed up."

"Would Lucy like to talk about it? We can ask Bickslow to go away for a bit." Juvia pulled back from the hug to inspect Lucy's tear stained face.

"I don't mind if he stays..." Lucy furiously wipes at her eyes and face with the backs of her hands and lower arms. "I just don't know what to say.. How to say it..."

"Say what happened, say what Lucy needs to say, Lucy should not worry about censoring herself for Juvia or Bickslow. It's like we are the only people in the world, with all the time in the world." Juvia pat Lucy's back reassuringly before sitting back down in her barstool, waiting for Lucy to sit down and continue talking.

00000

*Gray's POV*

"Are we there yet?" Natsu whines once again.

I reach over and lightly tug his hair, "Babe, shut up."

"But we've been walking forever. Can't we run or something?" Natsu asks, again.

"Natsu, we've been over this. If we walk during daylight for today and tomorrow, the day after tomorrow we'll be at home. We aren't running because we have so much stuff, plus not everyone's an invincible dragonslayer, okay?" I list off the reasons we're walking for what feels like the hundredth time today. Natsu is many things, but patient is not one of them.

"So... How do you all think the guild is? Like if the walls are still standing or..?" Wendy trails off.

"It better be standing, as of now, this is our only lead to Lucy, if she isn't there, she could be anywhere." Laxus grumbled from the front of the group.

"Do think we left the kitchen stocked? Maybe we have better preserved foods or something? Or sauces!" Yukino piped up.

"Mmm, Lucy loves barbecue sauce..." Wendy sighs.

I look at Gajeel and Rogue who are silently trailing at the end of our walking formation.

Gajeel almost looks calm, until my eyes caught the slight and almost unnoticeable motion of him grinding his teeth.

Rogue, however, is the living embodiment of cool, calm, and collected. His face is devoid of anger or hurt, he seems to be in deep thought.

Before I can ask what's on his mind, Natsu begins his never ending cycle of questions again and all thoughts of Rogue drop out of my mind as I groan before answering my boyfriend.

000000

*Lucy's POV*

"Oh, shit! Cosplayer! Get some!" Bickslow hollers as he reaches a hand around Juvia for a high five.

"Bickslow, this isn't a joke, I refuse to be the butt of a terrible sex joke." I stare at the offending hand.

"Juvia agrees, Bickslow is being very... Distasteful about this." Juvia backs me up with one of her famous glares directed at Bickslow.

"Thanks, Juvia." I sigh, self pity setting in.

"So has Lucy thought of any names? Did Wendy tell Lucy what sex the baby is?" Juvia clapped her hands together excitedly.

"I'm not that far along, she didn't tell me. It's only been a month or so.." I scratch my neck, only I could find a way to fuck up my life so badly. Things had been good, apart from the zombie apocalypse, but other than my life and my friends lives constantly being in mortal peril, things were great... I just had to go and get knocked up... Fucking great.

"-y sure seems to think that-" Juvia stops her rant just as I realize she had been talking, "Lucy?" Juvia tilts her head and continues staring at me.

"Yes?" I mirror her actions.

"Is Lucy okay? Lucy looks a bit pale." Juvia gently puts a hand on my shoulder as she continues, "Does Lucy need to go to bed?"

"Yeah, that's probably it.." I mutter as I notice how tired I feel and how heavy my body is.

"Here, we have been sleeping in the infirmary, we lock it at night. We'll join Lucy soon." Juvia rubs my back once in a circular motion before removing her hand so I can make my way to the first floor infirmary.

"Night, Juvia. Bickslow." I call out behind me quietly.

"It's too early to be 'night'," Bickslow halfheartedly replied, "it's still light out."

"Eat a bag of dicks, Bickslow." I grumble as I enter the infirmary, closing the doors firmly behind me.


	32. Chapter 32

*Lucy's POV*

I wake up in darkness, unsure of my surroundings or situation. I sit up in the bed I'm in and memories from the day before seem to catapult and lunge themselves into my thoughts.

Okay, so I'm in the infirmary. Juvia and Bickslow should be in here as well.

As if on queue, a loud snore comes from roughly 10 feet away, making me jolt before I figure it's Bickslow.

I ease my way silently out of bed, the only sounds i make are the quiet rustle of the papery infirmary sheets and my muffled, soft footfalls.

"Morning, Lucy." I hear Juvia's classic monotone call out in the darkness.

"Morning." I say as I turn around, which doesn't matter since I still cannot see through the impenetrable darkness.

"Run." I hear Juvia's voice whisper centimeters from my ear, the hair on my neck stands on end and my hands start to sweat.

"Huh?" I fumble to attempt to develop some coherent question, i fail.

"R̶̶̳̰͈͔͍͠U̖͘Ņ̶̳" Juvia screeches, the sound pierces my ears and i feel like my brain is vibrating.

*General POV*

"-p! Wake up!" Lucy feels someone shaking her, her head haphazardly lolling about her shoulders.

"Cosplayer, you okay?"

Lucy opens her eyes cautiously, "What?"

"Lucy had a nightmare." Juvia whispers in an almost motherly tone.

Lucy looked up at Bickslow, who had apparently been the one shaking her, as he gently let her go as she sat up to look at Juvia, who held a single white-wax candle in a holder at the edge of Lucy's bed. The flickering light played in the shadows of Juvia's features.

"Oh. I suppose I did..." Lucy curled into herself to cradle her head in her hands, "It felt real. It sounded real."

"Want to talk about it?" Juvia offered, but she already knew the answer she would receive.

"No, not now. Maybe not ever." Lucy sighed as she sat up properly again, "Can we leave here? The infirmary?" Lucy asked quietly.

"Sure, let's go." Bickslow stands up and walks over to the door, opening it allows the weak light that somehow manages to illuminate the main hall, accent the small infirmary as well.

Juvia held out a hand to her friend, who took it, and them made their way to the main hall.

Once they were out in the main hall Juvia and Lucy sat down at a booth by the far wall and Bickslow went to grab food from the kitchen pantry.

"I think... I should get going." Lucy starts, unsure of where she is going with this or what else to say.

"Why? To where?" Juvia reaches over the tabletop to grasp Lucy's hand, as if she was afraid Lucy would get up and start running at any moment.

"Well, everyone else will be looking for me at this point and this is definitely one of the first places they'll check. I can't let them find me, i can take care of my own problems." Lucy uses her free hand to push her hair out of her face nervously.

"Juvia is coming with you!" Juvia vows as she squeezes Lucy's hand with both of her own.

"With you where?" Bickslow reappears from the kitchen door behind the bar holding some unidentifiable cans, "Actually, I don't really care where. I'm in, too."

Lucy stares at him owlishly, surprised that the couple would want to accompany her, and would do it of their free will.

"Wow... Thanks guys..." Lucy brings her eyes down to stare at the table top to avoid Juvia or Bickslow noticing she was about to cry. "That's really sweet of you two." Lucy says with a thick voice and teary eyes.

"Cosplayer, don't cry." Bickslow tries to comfort Lucy as he reached the table and sat next to Juvia.

That of course didn't help, now knowing that her companions already knew she was about to cry made it that much easier to let loose the floodgates.

"Youuuu guyyyyyssssss!" Lucy sobbed as she stretched over the table, practically lying over it by the time she was able to pull Bickslow and Juvia into a hug.

"We're here for Lucy." Juvia said, her own voice becoming watery, "When should we leave?"

As Lucy pulled back and sat back in her seat properly, dusting her sweater off, Bickslow says "Pretty much ASAP, right? If they'll come by looking for you, they could be here any minute. You know how stubborn Fairytail mages are.."

"Yeah.. Yes. We could leave in like, an hour right? It's still early in the day so we could get somewhere, right?" Lucy sniffles.

"We could head to the Waas forest or maybe to Crocus?" Juvia ponders.

"Well, the Waas forest is beautiful... But it might be hard to find places to stay." Lucy scratches her chin as she stares at the rafters, "I suppose Crocus is the better option, though it's probably overrun by the dead."

"How so? I vote for the risky forest over the melting pot of deathly possibilities that is a huge city after an apocalypse." Bickslow groans.

"We could find somewhere just outside of Crocus? Maybe?" Lucy offered, too stubborn to back down.

"Fine, whatever." Bickslow passively sighs after Juvia shoots him a glare.

"Okay, Virgo and I are going to go grab canned food and stuff from the kitchen. Please be ready to go soon." Lucy says as she pulls out her keys and walks towards the kitchen.

"Juvia is going to check her room at Fairy Hills briefly. Juvia will return quickly." Juvia quickly pulls Bickslow down by his collar to kiss his cheek before turning and walking to the front doors, leaving Bickslow to his own devices.

"Fine, sounds great." Bickslow mumbled to the empty hall before his eyes found the door to the master office and he made his way to it.

0000

*Rogue's POV*

Day 2 on the road and Natsu still hasn't shut the hell up.

We should reach the guild sometime tomorrow, hopefully Lucy is actually there. Something here isn't adding up, or it wasn't until i figured it out..

Lucy's smell changing, Wendy knowing what's wrong and not telling us. Either Lucy's dying from cancer or something, or she's pregnant...

I look over at Gajeel, he's walking to my left, something's on his mind but I don't know what, and I'm not sure I want to know what, he's been a pain in the ass these past few days, like, more than usual.

"Wendy..." The little slayer turns to look at me as she keeps walking, quirking an eyebrow curiously.

I stare at her face, trying to figure out how to confirm my suspicions without cueing anyone else in.

After coming up with nothing i shake my head, "Later." I grunt.

Wendy eyes me with a blank face before huffing softly and turning her head back to face the front.


	33. Chapter 33

*Juvia's POV*

Just as Juvia returns from her visit to her apartment at Fairy Hills, Lucy strides out of the kitchen, Virgo-san following with a bored face and bright eyes.

Bickslow hops off the bar countertop, which Juvia assumes Bickslow was sitting on.

"Ready?" Bickslow asks Lucy and Juvia.

"Of course." Juvia places Juvia's hands on Juvia's hips.

"Juvia, babe... You're saying your thoughts out loud again. And you should stop using third person in your thoughts, it's confusing as hell." Bickslow chides Juvia.

Juvia sighs and Lucy begins talking.

"Yeah, i just wanna get changed, do you guys need new clothes? Virgo can grab you some too."

"Juvia would like new clothes!" Juvia lifts a hand in the air.

"I wouldn't mind clean clothes.." Bickslow reluctantly admits.

Virgo-san disappears, quickly returning with a pile of neatly folded all black clothes.

00000

*General POV*

"Okay, now that that's settled, are we good to go?" Lucy pumped a fist in the air somewhat enthusiastically. She and Juvia wore matching black windbreakers with black skinny jeans. Both girls also had matching neon green-accented black elbow and knee pads and biker gloves.

While Bickslow got a black hoodie, black skinny jeans, and black leather pauldrons on each shoulder.

"The leather should be nearly impossible to bite through, so Bickslow-san would have enough time to take out an attacking dead one before it could do any real damage. That is, if it aims for the shoulder, which not all of them do." Virgo bowed before continuing, "The knee pads and gloves are admittedly more to serve a fashionable purpose." Virgo lets a small smile grace her lips.

"Thanks, Virgo. I might summon you and ask for pauldrons at some point, they seem pretty useful.." Lucy stares at the leather pauldrons resting on Bickslow's shoulders, ending halfway down his arms, completely covering his biceps.

"If it's what you want." Virgo quickly disappeared.

"Off we go." Bickslow said as he pushed open the guild doors and walked out, tailed by Juvia and Lucy.

"Goodbye, Fairytail." Lucy whispered as she began to jog, not waiting for Juvia or Bickslow to catch up, but knowing they would.

00000000

***Six and a Half Months Later***

"Bickslow!" Lucy called from her bedroom.

"Yeah?" A voice echoed from downstairs.

"I can't get up!" Lucy whined.

"Yeah, yeah, one second!" Bickslow hollered up to his very pregnant friend.

Once he was upstairs and had helped Lucy to her feet she apologized, "Sorry to bother you again, i would ask Juvia, but with she went out for some air."

"No problem, cosplayer. I always help a friend in need. Right babies?" Bickslow bends down as he addresses Lucy's rotund stomach, before cackling at his own joke.

"Very funny." Lucy rolled her eyes before walking out into the hallway and down the stairs.

Bickslow followed a few feet behind.

"What do you want for lunch?"

"Mmm," Lucy closed her eyes to try and distinguish her cravings, "I want... Chocolate and pickles. And milk!" Lucy held a convictive finger in the air.

"Yeah, well, you know as well as I do that there's definitely no good milk, or any chocolate in this house. We do have pickles and nutella though.." Bickslow offered up the repulsive combo.

"Hmmm.. I'll take it!" Lucy hums as she waddles over to the pantry to pull out the jars she's looking for.

The pair sat and talked about how strange it is that water still worked after a zombie apocalypse, though the electricity went out soon after the chaos began. Fortunately the house they were in had plenty of gas, so the water could be heated and they could cook.

Just as Lucy finished eating the last pickle with a hearty layer of nutella on it, Juvia strode through the front door.

"Salutations, Lucy and company, and Bickslow!" Juvia giggled in good humor.

"Greetings!" Lucy mocked Juvia's formal greeting with friendly intent.

"Hey, babe." Bickslow nodded at his girlfriend.

"How are the little Lucys today?" Juvia cooed to Lucy's stomach after she approached and bent down to engage in babytalk.

"Haha, I think they're good, they've been a bit quiet lately, no kicks since yesterday." Lucy rubbed her belly with an anxious face.

She had accepted her pregnancy under the premise that she would do her best and whatever happened would happen, but after months of nurturing not one but two extra human lives, Lucy would be damned if her children didn't live, she would personally ensure it.

And even though she had initially panicked and not wanted to alert the fathers or anyone else, Lucy knows in retrospect she could've avoided all the stress and heartache by simply announcing her predicament and things would have been okay.

But that's all in the past, Lucy knows the pack isn't where she left them, and wouldn't know how to return there, even if she wanted to. She now had larger problems. Hopefully one day she'd be reunited with her family and her children could meet their fathers, and if she was very lucky, the fathers could learn to love her children the way she had, even though they weren't yet born.

"Soon.." Lucy whispered to herself as she rubbed her belly, finding herself relieved to feel a light kick hit her hand.

"A kick!" She exclaimed, "They're okay!" She said to Juvia.

"That is good, great even!" Juvia hugged Lucy around her belly.

"I know! I'm going to go paint! If you need me, you know where i am!" Lucy chimed as she began the climb up the stairs to get to the room full of paper, canvases, paints, brushes, and seemingly endless art supplies.

Lucy sat on the paint speckled floor staring at a painting she was working on. It was a very rough depiction of the Fairytail guild hall from the outside when she first joined, before all the renovations and such.

She sighed as she squeezed some fresh paint onto the plate from the kitchen she'd been using to mix colors, as she began to shade her painting of the place she still called home.

"Maybe one day I can take you two to the guild, I'm sure you'll love it." Lucy spoke to her unborn children as she painted the guild doors.

"It's different now from what I miss about it, but it's still the place all the best things had happened to me, except being with my mother. And you two." Lucy smiles softly, as she notices how the sunlight is filtering into the room delicately as she continues to paint.

Lucy always loved spring, not necessarily this year around, since the lack of cold and snow meant the smell of death and decay could spread through the air so much easier.

Weeks after leaving the guild, Lucy, Juvia, and Bickslow found a decent sized house that was well stocked, just a 30 minute walk from Crocus, so they settled down there.

Lucy began to feel unsettled in the silence of her solitude and began to hum an old lullaby absentmindedly. Soon her halfhearted humming became a soft nostalgic voice as she sang the old, sorrowful lullaby her mother had sung her when she was young.

"**Baloo, my boy, lie still and sleep**

**It grieves me sore to hear thee weep**

**If thou'lt be silent I'll be glad**

**Thy moaning makes my heart full sad.**

**Baloo, my boy, thy mother's joy**

**Thy father bred me great annoy**

**Baloo, baloo, baloo, baloo**

**Baloo, baloo, lu-li-li-lu."**

Lucy cooed to her painting, wistfully recalling all her joyous and painful memories from Fairytail.

"**O'er thee I keep my lonely watch**

**Intent thy lightest breath to catch**

**O, when thou wak'st to see thee smile**

**And thus my sorrow to beguile.**

**Baloo, my boy, thy mother's joy**

**Thy father bred me great annoy**

**Baloo, my boy, lie still and sleep**

**It grieves me sore to hear thee weep.**"

As Lucy sang the song she began to wonder why her mother would sing her to sleep with such a sad song, and why her mother would sing her to sleep with a lullaby that addressed a "boy", and not a girl, as Lucy had been. Though she supposed her mother must have had her own reasons and perhaps the song held a certain meaning for Layla that Lucy currently didn't understand, though she hoped one day she could.

"**Twelve weary months have crept away**

**Since he, upon thy natal day**

**Left thee and me, to seek afar**

**A bloody fate in doubtful war.**

**Baloo, my boy, lie still and sleep**

**It grieves me sore to hear thee weep**

**If thou'lt be silent, I'll be glad**

**Thy moaning makes my heart full sad.**"

Yes, Lucy loved her mother very much, and missed her quite a lot. Lucy hoped her children would never have to go through the separation Lucy experienced with her own mother.

"**I dreamed a dream but yesternight**

**Thy father slain in foreign fight**

**He, wounded, stood beside my bed**

**His blood ran down upon thy head**

**He spoke no word, but looked on me**

**Bent low, and gave a kiss to thee!**

**Baloo, baloo, my darling boy**

**Thou'rt now alone thy mother's joy.**"

Lucy gently put her paintbrush down as she whispered the last words of the lullaby. She decided that the painting was complete.

Lucy put the canvas aside to dry, then she leaned over and pluck a fresh one from a stack of assorted canvases, suddenly feeling inspired.

00000

*Wendy's POV*

"Wait up!" Levy sprints to catch up with Gajeel and me as we walk briskly to catch back up with the pack, who is roughly a mile ahead of Levy, Gajeel, and me.

Levy catches up quickly and keeps up with our strides as Gajeel is walking so quickly through the forest, he's practically jogging, as I'm jogging along side to keep up.

I notice Levy is beginning to slow a bit, and we ran out of water earlier in the day, so just to be on the safe side, i tell Gajeel to slow, and tell him we'll be taking a short break.

I then send a fairly weak sky dragon's roar in the general projected direction the others should be in right about now. Even if i miss, at the very least Natsu will pick it up faintly and bring the others back here. Though the way we'd planned for this system to work was that if heard, felt, sensed or whatever, depending on how strong the force behind it was, the meaning or urgency varies. For example, the softer roar i just sent is an appropriate warning for 'hey, we're tired and will be taking a break. Please come back here?' Though if I sent a much stronger one, it could mean something more like 'Levy stepped in a bear trap, hurry up and get over here!'

We are actually only this far behind because everyone is still hellbent of finding Lucy, so they wanted to leave the house we were staying in ASAP, so of course, we were left behind to clean up/pack up small but important things the others may have(and did) leave behind. After we completed our task we left and started to follow the others' trail, which was a simple task for two dragonslayers.

It's been almost 7 months since Lucy slipped through our fingers and ran off to have her kids. I still haven't told the pack what was up, but pretty soon after Lucy left, Rogue came to me with suspicions, which i neither affirmed nor denied, though i know he knows for sure.

I look at Levy as she drops to sit on the fresh spring moss, Gajeel crouches down, using a hand to steady himself, as he listens. I close my eyes and listen as well, catching the sounds of trampling feet quickly advancing towards us. They're coming.

I shrug off my backpack, dropping it to the ground, before i let myself fall to sit upon it.

I open my eyes to stare at Levy, who i find is already inspecting me. She smiles at me, softly, as if she's asleep and is dreaming of something sweet, far sweeter than this lukewarm, but crisp, spring air. However her eyes are open, and trained on mine.

"How are you holding up, Wendy?" She blinks.

"Alright. A bit surreal. And worried, still, after all this time." I rub my hands together to try to distract myself from fidgeting. "We haven't found anything of her since the guild hall, and even with that letter Bickslow left, we have no help, no leads, no clues. Just a vague hello from a man we haven't seen in almost a year, who says Lucy was okay, 7 months ago, and recuperating from some vague emotional trauma. And that Bickslow and Juvia, two not-so reliable people from what I recall, will take care of her as best they could. And that if we want to find them we'll have to search where we can "remember the good fights", WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN?!" I hunch my shoulders as cradle my head.

"Kid," Gajeel's rough voice grunts, "I know what you mean, we'll find her. We have to."

I feel a small, warm hand touch my shoulder. Ever since Lucy left, Levy and I became closer and we get along better, since the whole pack has been united in our search for Lucy.

I open my mouth to say something, though I'm not sure what, but the rest of the pack comes through a break in the woods.

Natsu looks at Gajeel with a curious look.

"We're taking a break." He huffs.

"Fine." Gray said as everyone else nods as they sit down around the small circle that Gajeel, Levy, and I form.

After about 5 minutes of us sitting down, catching our breath, and a few trying to keep up idle chatter, I stand.

"Let's get going, we've practically searched the entirety of eastern Fiore. We need to get west, she has to be in the west!" I dust myself off and tug my backpack back on.

After a moment of silence, Laxus speaks up apprehensively.

"I don't want to be... A downer... But if we haven't caught any wind of Lucy, maybe there's a reason... Like an undead reason."

Everyone freezes in the process of standing up, Cana visibly cringes, as if that's all she'd been hoping Laxus wouldn't say.

"I mean, I don't want to be a dick, but it's been this long and we haven't caught a trace of her." Laxus tries to justify himself.

"Laxus, I'm not trying to be a bitch, but damn you." I hiss at him, as I turn to walk through the others and walk farther into the forest, westward.

"Wendy, wait up!" Natsu says as she follows, joined by Levy, Gajeel, Gray, and Cana.

I notice Yukino, Cobra, and Laxus still standing back in the clearing.

"Fine, we don't need nakama who abandon friends!" I scream back to them and stomp my way through the forest, not having to wait long before feeling an adrenaline rush. I break into a sprint and don't bother worrying about the rest of the now, much smaller pack, they'll definitely be able to keep up, if they're anywhere as upset as they should be. Anywhere as upset as I am.

00000

*General POV*

Lucy inspected her still wet canvas, she admired her own use of reds, and other complimentary warm colors, but found there was a bit of an emptiness, for a lack of better words, in the background of the painting, one that she felt would look best with cool colors to add a cold tone to her art.

The painting was a self portrait of Lucy with four arms, in a somewhat rough style, it's obvious the quick brushstrokes were painted with a feverish passion. In three arms, she held a human heart in each hand, and with the last hand, portrait-Lucy was covering her eyes, almost like a child covering their eyes to count in hide-and-seek.

After adding some extra touches, Lucy decided she would get back to the painting later, and made her way back down stairs after shrugging off the blue men's button down she had been using as a smock.

"...and then Gajeel said, "No one gets hurt on your team, I don't wanna have to tell Jose that someone I'm working with is a weak bitch!"" Juvia is mid-story, excitedly spilling of what Lucy had to assume was her time in Phantom Lord, Lucy figured from Juvia's use of the name 'Jose'. "So Gajeel picks up Sol, and hauls Sol with the team on this ten mile hike! And the whole time Sol complained and whined like a little child."

"That's funny," Bickslow chuckled, "I kinda miss that. You know, being on a team."

Lucy, who had frozen on the stairs during her descent to wait for a good time to enter Juvia's or Bickslow's line of vision, tried to silently creep back up the stairs, praying none of the relatively new looking stairs would uncharacteristically squeak under the physical and psychological pressure Lucy was exerting.

Just as Lucy was preparing to take the last step and silently slide down the upstairs hall into a random room to retreat into, the step she was on squeaked. Lucy glared at the offending step, as now her friends downstairs had to be aware of her presence and she would pretend she had just started down the stairs for the first time as they squeaked.

"Lucy, are you okay?" Bickslow called to his friend, whom he was worried about since she was descending the stairs much slower than usual.

"Yeah, guys, I'm fine, just very pregnant." Lucy played the only feasible card at hand.

"Oh, Lucy should take a seat on the couch, then!" Juvia hummed as she got up from her bar stool at the kitchen island and quickly made her way to the living room area and picked the large orange leather recliner to curl up in as she waited for her companions to join her.

"Yeah, yeah," Lucy sighed as she walked to the couch adjacent to the recliner Juvia was occupying and eased herself onto the comfortable couch. Bickslow sat with his long legs crisscrossed atop of the sturdy wooden coffee table.

"So, Lucy, Bickslow and Juvia have been talking." Juvia planted her chin comfortably in her palm, using her elbow to hold up her head on her armrest.

Lucy internally cringed, not liking the familiar feeling of being sat down and talked down to. Though the latter had yet to happen, Lucy wasn't sure if she had the emotional strength quite yet to deal with any kind of critique or insults.

"Yes..?" Lucy began fiddling with her idle hands, which of course absorbed her attention in an attempt to dissociate with her current situation.

"Lucy." Bickslow called her attention back beyond her control, "Please listen, we aren't gonna say some radical shit like "Hey it's been a good few months but now when you need us more than ever we're gonna get going!""

Lucy looked up with a quiet, watery smile.

"Lucy, to continue, or Juvia guesses begin, what Juvia wanted to say, was Bickslow and Juvia have been talking about the delivery of Lucy's babies, and it has been decided I will help you with that and Bickslow will stand guard, keep lookout around the house, bring more food, and whatever else you need."

Lucy was in a state of shock, she had, in the life-changing decision to have children, forgotten about the entire actual(and painful) process of birthing children, per se.

"Whoa, thanks guys..." Lucy mumbled as she looked up to stare at the ceiling, "So this is really happening..."

Bickslow and Juvia shared a confused look but silently agreed to keep quiet and let Lucy explain, if she wanted to.

"Wow..." Lucy mumbled with a dazed look in her eyes. She got up and waddled to the stairs, climbing them slowly as she mulled over her current situation.

Juvia looked at Bickslow before standing up and walking to the kitchen to grab a bottled water.

"Juv, do you think she'll be okay?" Bickslow had made his way to the kitchen table and sat at it before Juvia had even noticed him move.

"Yes, Lucy is strong. The real issue at hand is how is Juvia going to help Lucy give birth to two babies? Juvia doesn't really know how to assist in the birthing of children.." Juvia mumbled as Bickslow smiles an uncharacteristic, subtle smile.

"Juv..." Bickslow continued staring at Juvia as if she were the only star in the night sky.

"Bickslow?" Juvia looked, confused, at her friend and lover.

"Nothing.. I just... Wanted to say that I know you'll do great.. With helping Lucy give birth."

"Yes. Thanks, Bickslow. That's sweet." Juvia barely blushes, which Bickslow took note of and began blushing himself.

Juvia moved a bit closer to where Bickslow was sitting and awkwardly holds his hand.


	34. Chapter 34

*General POV*

As Wendy and the rest of the pack, excluding Yukino, Cobra, and Laxus, settled down to take a short break and decide on a course of action.

"We should be near the National Council." Levy called from her perch on a low hanging tree branch.

"Hey, you said Bickslow said something about fights?" Gears could practically be seen turning in Gajeel's head.

"Yeah, and?" Wendy nodded.

"The GMG take place in Crocus, which is close to the National Council." Gajeel finally spilled what he'd been piecing together in his head.

"That could be it! That'd make sense." Levy chirped, a hopeful shine in her eyes.

"Leave it to Bickslow to come up with such a terrible hint.." Cana shook her head.

"So, let's go to Crocus!" Natsu exclaimed with an energy he couldn't explain the origin of.

"Yeah, Let's go!" Gray urged the others.

As they got going they all worried about Laxus, Cobra, and Yukino. Even their anger over their want to seize the search for Lucy couldn't outweigh their affection for their comrades. Even though they all shared the same thoughts, no one had the guts to voice them.

The walk to Crocus proved to be challenging, mostly due to the boredom of Natsu translating into Gray and Natsu constantly bickering, which of course always seems to get others involved. By the time the pack walked into the capital, they'd been through four long hours, eight brawls, and two close calls with zombies.

Cana had been quiet for most of the walk, walking silently alongside an angsty Gajeel.

Wendy and Levy had held up a flickering conversation about the history of dragons and theories they had about the dragons.

Rogue marched, holding a place in the middle of the walking group. He said nothing and took no part in any fights, conversations, or debates.

Upon arriving at Crocus, the group apprehensively wandered into the city, taking out zombies when necessary as they made their way to the city center, to the stadium the GMG were held in.

"I doubt they just set up shop in the stadium, that's bad strategy, which is something Lucy excels at!" Levy announced.

"It's our only lead, do you have a better idea?" Wendy asked, not trying to be snarky, but she was very agitated.

"Okay, okay, let's get to it." Levy defensively raises her hands.

00000

*Lucy's POV*

I feel a pressure in my lower abdomen, it's extremely uncomfortable, it stops eventually, I breathe a sigh of relief and stretch out on the couch, preparing to take the nap of my life, before it's back, with a vengeance.

It must be a contraction, like the false alarm type ones that happen way before the actual births just to warm the body up.

It's only been, like 7 months since I got preggo, this can't be the real deal.

Wait... Wendy said they'd develop faster than the average fetus. So... This could be the real thing.

I open my mouth to call for Bickslow or Juvia when the contractions stop.

"Huh." I huff, i guess it was a false alarm, I giggle a bit to myself.

I'd rather take this nap on my bed, i decide. As i struggle to stand up, i feel a warm wetness slip down my legs, soaking through my sweatpants.

"Shit..." I mumble as the contractions return once again.

"Juvia!?" I shriek, "Bickslow?!"

"Yeah!?"

"What's wrong!?"

I hear their feet stumble down the steps.

"It's happening!" I whisper-yell as I stare down at my stomach.

"Bickslow, pick Lucy up, CAREFULLY, and bring Lucy to the master bedroom!" Juvia commands.

"Aye aye, captain!" Bickslow gently sweeps me off my feet and whisks me upstairs with Juvia hot on our trail.

"Lucy," Juvia puts her hands on mine as Bickslow sets me down on the huge bed upstairs, "Juvia doesn't know much about birthing children, but from what Juvia does know, Lucy probably has a few hours of pain ahead."

"Tell me about it." I grunt as the next round of contractions begin.

*Wendy's POV*

"Where else could she be? Where would Juvia and Bickslow take her?" Cana stared around the empty, trashed GMG stadium.

"Apparently not here.." Levy sassed.

"Well, what now?" Gray looked to Wendy.

"I know!" Natsu threw an arm in the air. "I'll be back. I'm gonna go check for any fresh, familiar scents around town."

"Ok, good plan." Levy pointed to Gajeel, Rogue, and Wendy. "You go too. The more noses we have, the more ground we can cover quickly."

None of the slayers assented, though they both dashed off in different directions.

"And eat while you're at it!" Cana yelled after them. "They've been awfully cranky lately." She sighed to Gray.

"We're all cranky." Gray watched Gajeel run off, "there's still no sign of Lucy, we don't know why she ran away in the first place, we don't even have any signs that she's still alive. We're running on fumes as it is. I'll keep looking for Lucy til the day i die, but we need sleep and water. And we need that now."

"You're right." Cana reluctantly agreed. "We can wait for them to come back and then find a place."

"We can't stay in the city, it's too risky and too smothering." Levy scratched at a dried fleck of blood on the back of her forearm. "Like ma-" she froze and looked up past her companions' heads at the sky. "Let's go." She started jogging past the others, scrambling carelessly to exit the arena and find what she had seen.

As Cana turned in sync with the others she gasped, a large metal pole stood tall only a mile or so away.

"It's her! He found her." Gray mumbled, eyes tearing up as he desperately sprinted after Levy, quickly followed by Cana.

The three mages plowed their way down streets and avenues, easily destroying and deflecting zombies in their way.

By the time they reached Gajeel, who stood beside Rogue before the humongous metal pole of his own design.

"Did you find her?" Gray broke the silence.

"No." Gajeel looked over at a nearby building

"Then why the hell did you bring us here?" Levy spat, bitterly.

Wendy descended to the ground beside Gajeel, floating through the air before landing gently. "Oh." She sounded pleasantly surprised for the first time in ages.

"What is it?" Cana itched with anticipation, there had to

Be a reason if both slayers sensed something there.

Finally, Natsu bolted noisily from a nearby alleyway. "Wha-Ah." He too understood now, which of course drove the non-slayers crazy.

Then as it seemed Gajeel had waited for everyone's presence he shared his discovery, "I can't smell Lucy here, but Bickslow was here recently."

"And he's with Lucy!" Cana gasped excitedly, hands to her lips with glee.

"Exactly," Rogue looked at the store that Bickslow's scent emanated from. "They were here, recently. And if he came to this place alone, he's either the lone survivor, or most likely he was out scavenging for Lucy and Juvia who stayed wherever they're living right now."

"She's here." Natsu smiled to himself. Gray went to stand beside him, slipping his fingers into Natsu's grip and squeezing his hand. "She has to be here."

"We searched half of the country, we shouldn't have a problem finding her in one measly city." Wendy bubbled, overjoyed at the thought of seeing Lucy again. Though she had to wonder if Lucy had gone through with the pregnancy, or had it been terminated. She supposed she'd find out soon enough.


	35. Chapter 35

Lucy's throat was sore, but she couldn't stop crying out or groaning. Juvia was the only one helping Lucy give birth at the moment because Bickslow had to fight off the walkers that were drawn to the noise of a woman in labor.

"Lucy is doing great." Juvia assured her friend, though she honestly had no clue, it had been two long hours for Lucy, during which Juvia had kept her distracted until the pain became unbearable.

"Juvia- something isn't right." Lucy puffed, gasping. "Juvia. Do something.. please.." Her desperate whine was enough to spur Juvia into action. Assuming the babies were well on their way she promised her return and sprinted to the linen closet, knowing the children would need immediate warmth. Grabbing every towel from the cupboard, Juvia hurried back to the bedroom, throwing the pile near her blonde friend and continuing down to the kitchen where she grabbed a large bowl, which was almost definitely supposed to be decorative due to the unreasonable size of it, not that Juvia minded, it was exactly what she needed. As the large bowl filled with warm water from the sink, Juvia located a large mixing bowl and lugged both up the stairs to set them on the floor beside the bed Lucy lay on.

"Lucy is probably hurting since she is not trying to push, if Lucy tries to suppress the contractions, she puts herself in danger. Please do as Juvia asks, Juvia only wants to help." She set one of the towels under Lucy's legs , gently slipping it just under her rear. "It is time."

Natsu's POV

We trekked around the area where we had first smelled Bickslow, every now and then one of us would pick up either Bickslow or Juvia's scent in a store, but never Lucy's. It must have rained before we got here since there aren't any fresh scents from any fairies in the outdoors.

"Why doesn't Lucy go on any trips out here." Gajeel asked, a confounded and anxious look on his face. Wendy and Rogue shared a look of understanding, though neither wanted to share.

"Trust me, she's still alive." Wendy assured her companions, "do not give up hope. She must be staying behind closed doors for a reason." She explained vaguely.

"But she's an amazing fighter, she has no reason to hide." Cana quipped.

"Maybe she's too injured to fight." Gray worried.

"Maybe…" Natsu stopped himself. "No. she's okay, she has to be okay." He told himself for his own sake more than the others.

"Let's keep sniffing them out, this trail of stores and houses they've ransacked must be leading to their hideaway." Gajeel began to walk again, leaving everyone else in their pensive moods.

"I'm tired.." Levy said a while later, she was struggling to keep up. "I need water and a bath and a bed."

"But she's so close," Natsu whined the perfect spokesman for petulance.

"We know she's near now, I can't go on. I barely could when we reached the arena and that was forever ago. Please, I can't be the only one." Levy looked around to see Cana, Gray, Wendy, and Gajeel raise their hands guiltily.

"Gajeel, i thought if anyone could keep going it'd be you." Natsu made a snide remark that would usually result in a swift punch in the nads.

"You and everyone else knows that I haven't slept in three days, so suckmy ass if you think I don't need a goddamn rest." Gajeel grumbled, sweat sliding down his temple.

"Fine, but only because you all need a break. I want you all to know that I wanted to keep going." Natsu huffed. "How about this apartment building, we can find the penthouse." She stared up at a well sized apartment complex a few city blocks ahead of them.

"Yesssss." Cana groaned in pleasure at the thought of a hot bath or shower, she was not picky about which one she could take.

"Water.." Levy sounded borderline delirious as she smiled to herself. "Yes, let's go."

"I'll find food and find you all in the apartment." Rogue mumbled before he became a shadow and slipped away silently, leaving Gajeel staring at the far away cobblestones trying to locate his friend.

The largest apartment in the bedroom had three bedrooms, which was more than enough for the group, since there was also a pullout couch in the living room. Gray and Natsu chose a room to share, Levy, and Wendy grabbed one. Gajeel nabbed the remaining bedroom to himself, locking himself within it, leaving Cana to share with Rogue on the couch. She took a seat and waited for his return. Until of course she remembered that there was only one bathroom so she crept down the hall and ran a bath in the large, deep tub.

It felt amazing to peel off her sweaty, grimy clothes and sink into the almost scalding water, her skin glowed pink, and her fingers pruned in record time, but she found herself so content to sit in the steaming bath. She scooted forward and gripped the sides of the tub as she leaned back to wet her hair, but the heat was so cleansing that she found her hands slipping into the water with her and her head slowly descending as well. Her eyelids were particularly sensitive to the heat, but she held her breath and stayed under as long as she could. She felt untouchable when her senses her dulled by the hot bath. Powerful and out of touch with her reality, under the surface she could pretend that it had all been a nightmare and she would rise to breathe in air that hadn't been tainted with the stench of blood, dust, or rotting flesh.

But of course she would need air, she didn't want to die, she just wanted to imagine. After her fantasy ended she had to retrieve shampoo from the shower on the other side of the room, shivering in the cold air before she sank back into her water. Scrubbing the grit from her scalp and hair and the dead skin and blood from her skin, Cana found the water turning a murky brown-grey color. It was a regular occurrence given the circumstances, but it was a revolting end to a good bath.

Emerging from the now humid and steamy air of the bathroom, Cana heard noise in the main room of the flat, dressed in only a towel, his her card in one hand, Cana peered around the corner into the living room carefully, relieved to find Rogue sorting through a backpack of food.

"Looks like you're stuck with me kiddo." Cana walks to the kitchen, weary but ready to help her friend figure out their late lunch.

"How does pasta sound?" Rogue pulls out a box of uncooked pasta, shaking it for emphasis.

"With sauce?" Cana asked, eyes glimmering with discreet hope.

"Yeah, we'll have to be stingy with it, but we've got some." Rogue pulled more boxes out followed by two jars of tomato sauce.

"What? Two jars is fine." Cana rummaged through cupboards looking for a pot to boil the penne pasta in. She found one quickly and tested the sink, it was fine.

"Not with the way Natsu and Gajeel horde it." Rogue sighed, Cana turned to look at his face, noting his pensive expression.

"We'll just have to feed them last," Cana shrugged as she filled the pot with water. Watching the water rise gradually. "What's on your mind, Rogue?" She kept her eyes on her task, knowing he wouldn't feel quite as comfortable speaking with her eyes searching his face for emotions.

"I was just… worrying. About Lucy and the state we'll find her in." Her popped open the boxes, setting them down on the countertop.

Cana set the pot on the stove, turning on the top. "How so?" She stepped back from the fire and pushed herself to take a seat up on the countertop adjacent to the oven.

Rougue stared at his own tense hands as they rested on the countertop. "I'm not sure. But whatever it is, it isn't my place to share. I know that." Rogue pushed himself off from the counter and abandoned the kitchen to take a seat on the couch.

"It's a pullout!" Cana called to him.

"What?!" He turned and stared at Cana incredulously.

"The couch. It's a pullout couch." Cana looked at him with a 'why are you acting crazy?' Sort of look. Rogue visibly went lax, leaning back against the couch, he'd been so anxious that someone had tipped Cana off about Lucy's situation.

"Yeah," he awkwardly mumbled, avoided eye contact. He worried he was being too transparent. "Of course it is." He attempted to fake confidence, but it had never been his strong suit as much as it had been Sting's.

"What was that? What's really on your mind?" Rogue couldn't believe he'd actually thought that Cana wouldn't notice his slip up, in recent (sober) times she'd been hyper intuitive. "Don't tell me it's nothing. I know you better than you think, a seasoned gambler can pick up on your tells quickly."

Rogue groaned, he used to be so stoic, if only we hadn't tapped into his emotional side. If only Lucy hadn't unlocked his emotional side. She'd only reached a level of higher understanding with him a month or two before her disappearance, her getaway only gave her a few hours head start, but it had taken them almost 9 months to even catch a whiff of a lead.

"Cana, i can't but i can promise you, you'll find out within a few days. It'll be impossible to ignore when it comes up." He promises, dreading the moment when they actually find Bickslow and Juvia, what if Lucy wasn't with them at all? What if she'd died? What if she wasn't pregnant at all or anymore and he'd been making assumptions all along? Rogue wasn't sure he was ready to face his approaching reality. What would he do if he actually was a father? There was also a decent chance the kid was Gajeel's. Rogue shivered with anticipation, as anxious as he was to see Lucy again, he was just as excited to look into her big brown eyes and have her in his arms again, he was stupid to have ever slept through her escape, she had needed support and he was passed out on the couch, not even conscious to talk her down.

"Swear to me." She whispered from the kitchen, knowing full well he could hear her just fine. She stared at the water beginning to boil, suddenly feeling much more tired than she remembered being. She still had a meal to see to though.

"I swear." Rogue lay down on the couch, listening to the sound of the dry pasta falling into the water.

"Good." Cana said even quieter than her first whisper, she watched the pasta settle on the bottom of the large pot.

Lucy lay, exhausted, staring up at the ceiling, she couldn't believe it wasn't over. One of the babies had been born, it was a very healthy boy, Lucy's body could barely pass him through, but she managed with the guidance of Juvia, who seemed to know exactly what she was doing as she used a damp corner of a towel to wipe the child clean before she swaddled him in a fluffy towel. He'd begun to breathe completely on his own, and his body colored quickly, from a pale blueish tint to a pink tinted complexion. It was quite a feat for a newborn.

The birth of the second child proved easier, he was significantly smaller, though not premature, though when his head crowned and Lucy began to push again, it became clear that the umbilical cord was around his neck, Juvia carefully untangled him and finally it was almost done. Lucy breathed a huge sigh of relief, believing the affair to be over, only to be surprised as she was inspecting her sons when the contractions began again. "What is happening?" She looked absolutely panic stricken, Juvia put a hand on her shoulder.

"Relax, Lucy just has to pass the afterbirth." Juvia got up to grab a pillow to put under Lucy's back, propping her up.

The third round of contractions resulted in her body expelling a strange bloody mass, which upon closer inspection was two distinct masses that had fused together somehow. Juvia placed it in the empty mixing bowl and sighed, looking to her friend, "Lucy is okay?" She dipped her fingers in the water bowl and scrubbed at her bloody hands.

Lucy smiled weakly though she wasn't looking at Juvia but rather at the two bundled infants beside her. "I'm okay."

"Good, Lucy is going to want to remain in bed for a few days, Juvia will set out more towels on the bed!" Juvia quietly unfolded the towels she'd dropped on the floor.

Juvia layered towels where Lucy would rest to absorb the massive amount of blood and uterine lining that she knew would shed for a few days. Juvia had done some intense research in a nearby library during a scavenging trip. At the same time, Lucy had already sat up slowly and picked up her second born son, watching him sleep with a tearful shine in her eyes. She couldn't hold them both at the same time, she could barely hold them one at a time to be quite honest. Picking up her firstborn child, she smiled as she realized the chubby child was actually awake, though his eyes remained closed, she turned his face toward her as she held onto him.

"Juvia has finished." Juvia came and took the heavier baby from his mother's arms, "rest, Lucy."

Bickslow who remained outside protecting his friend and girlfriend the entire time, soon realized that the noise had stopped and thus wasn't attracting any more lurkers.

He hurried into the house, climbing the stairs quietly, he opened the door to Lucy's room, smiling when he saw Juvia sitting in the corner watching Lucy sleep in the middle of the king bed, one child on each side.

"How did it go? Any complications?" Bickslow walked over to Juvia, smoothing her ruffled hair lightly.

"Lucy did well. It was difficult, but Lucy is strong. Strong to give birth and brave to let them grow in her, Lucy did not have to, but she did. Juvia is happy." She mumbled, obviously on the verge of falling asleep. Suddenly it began to rain outside, though it was not because of Juvia, she smiled to herself, she had grown to like rain, especially since it had stopped following her everywhere all those years ago. Juvia's eyelids stayed closed and she felt herself being lifted, Bickslow was carrying her to their bed where she'd be comfortable.

"Night Lucy." He hummed as he left her in the room with her newborns.


	36. Chapter 36

**A/N Thank you to DestroyingDestiny! I couldn't have done this without you! I'm going to keep trying! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و**

**TW: Gory and accurate description of childbirth**

"Rise and shine bitches!" Natsu hollered down the apartment hall, excited to find his best friend finally, he just needed to talk the pack of mages to wake up and get out, even at the early hour of 6AM.

"I will murder you." Cana growled from her spot on the pullout couch. "Shut the fuck up, we can't leave when it's dark and we can't go when we're so tired."

"She's right, we haven't slept properly in 5 days, we can't go on with 10 hours of sleep for 5 days, we're supposed to be getting 8 hours per night." Wendy walked to the doorway of her room. "We can't go out this drowsy, it makes us weak and puts us in danger."

"But what about Lucy?" Natsu huffed, he just needed to see her, to make sure she was still alive.

"At this point, a day or two barely matters, they probably won't move on, if the amount of places they ransacked means anything, they've been here for months, they'll still be here this afternoon or even tomorrow." Gray grumbled sleepily from his bed. "She's probably fine, and we'll see her soon. We just need to be awake and alive to do that. So I'm going back to bed."

Natsu looked around, not finding any supporters of his idea he pouted and went back to his room to try and fall asleep once more.

"I'm going to kill him." Cana muttered into her pillow. Rogue silently snickered at her grumpy face and the crusted over drool on her chin. He could see it in the dark and found it quite entertaining. And with a tired smile on his face Rogue fell back to sleep.

Wendy shuffled back into her bed, scooting in close to Levy, who nuzzled The top of Wendy's head for body heat almost as soon as she was near enough. Wendy soon joined Levy and fell back to sleep in their warm bed.

Once the house fell silent once again and all his companions were asleep, taking deep, slow breaths, Natsu rose, careful not to wake Gray as he slipped into the hall, treading ever so sluggish toward the front door. He knew any distinctive noises would probably wake up the other slayers, so he slid out the front door of the flat and tiptoed his way to the stairwell, waiting until the door shut behind him quietly before he ran down the steps like a madman.

All that he could think about was his missing best friend and her disappearance. He wanted to ask why. Why she left him? Why she left them? What had been so important that she couldn't tell them? Natsu sprinted out of the building, burning any and everything standing in his way as he sped through the streets, catching whiffs of Juvia and Bickslow every so often, he knew he was headed in the right direction.

And then it began to rain, Natsu cursed, his ability to track was greatly deterred by the downpour. He'd have to actually enter buildings to capture scents, greatly slowing his process.

"I know you're here." He muttered to himself as he walked into a jewelry store, not smelling a single useful thing, though he did find a significantly decomposed body, still moving of course, and took it out of its misery. "I know you're close." He stepped back into the rain.

Natsu found most buildings void of the smells he was desperately searching for, but he could only trek on, down the main street, until he finally laid eyes on a magic shop, he knew if Lucy could've, she would have ransacked the wrecked store. He jogged to it, excited to smell Lucy's scent for what felt like the first time in forever. Only to find the store had no trace of Lucy, or Bickslow, or Juvia. Natsu wandered the small shop, noticing there were no celestial keys present, but most other magical items were present and left more or less in their designated places.

Natsu huffed impatiently, stomping his way out the broken window like a petulant child. And so his search continued.

000000

The afternoon after the births of Lucy's children, she was still lying in her bed, having woken up a couple times in the night to breastfeed. She laid the children next to one another and was lying on her side watching them sleep. To say she adored them was an understatement, she would easily have died for them in that moment, not even 24 hours since their births she was so intensely attached to them, so much so that she was pleasantly surprised. She'd never loved something or someone so much. She hadn't really even truly loved their fathers, though she had been admittedly fond of them, and she'd always assumed that in time she might grow to live one or both of them like she knew they wanted, but her escape cemented the fact that she couldn't let that happen, and they must hate her by then, Or at least Lucy thought so. She let them love her and care for her and then whisked away in the dark of night. It may have sounded poetic but it didn't feel so beautiful or bittersweet as a story, Lucy had betrayed and abandoned her friends, her family. Without a reason as far as they knew, that is if Wendy hadn't told them already. Lucy tried to shake off those negative thoughts as she stared at her children, her greatest achievements. She would protect them until the day she died.

"Ahem," Lucy looked up to find Bickslow looking at her fondly, Juvia behind him, both with gentle smiles on their faces. "We thought it might be time for you to officially introduce us." Their arms were around each other comfortably. "If that's alright with you of course."

"Yeah," Lucy rolled onto her back and sat up, cringing slightly at the uncomfortable feeling of blood and tissues ejecting themselves from her body, she couldn't wait to recuperate, she it felt the the most painful period she'd ever had, but far worse. It was worth it, she thought, but she didn't want to feel it ever again. Two was more than enough even if the world wasn't ending. "I haven't named them yet but I'm thinking about it." She pulled both babies into her lap one by one, moving them so gently that even though they were woken up they didn't bother crying about it.

"Hello, loves, this is aunty Juvia. He's uncle Bickslow. They're going help take care of you two." The older twin gurgled, his large red eyes watching Lucy coo to him. His brother quietly stared at Lucy's hair, which was only inches from his face.

"Can we hold them?" Bickslow stepped forward, leaning down to put himself in the children's short line of vision.

"Of course you can," Lucy handed one child to each of her friends, watching them smile at the little bundles in their arms. Lucy smiled, laying back down on her side to rest some more.

"Lucy did well. Juvia is proud." Juvia hummed as she continued to smile down at the younger child.

"I think that one is Rogue's,"Lucy stared at the child in Juvia's arms.

"Why?" Bickslow leaned over, keeping a firm hold on the child in his own arms as he peered at the smaller baby.

"His eyes are darker. And bigger. He looks like a Chali. There, I named him." Lucy sighed into her pillow, "now the other one, he's heavier, larger, and just about as difficult as Gajeel." Lucy smiled, looking at the child in Bickslow's arms with an exhausted expression. "His eyes are cherry red, not burgundy. And I'm almost sure his teeth will grow in with sharp canines."

"And his name?" Juvia held the smaller twin to her chest, one hand bracing his head as his cheek rested on her shoulder.

"Lyle." Lucy inspected him. "Probably."

"Where are you getting these names?" Bickslow chuckled as he handed Lucy her child. She set him down beside herself and reached for the next one, keeping him secured safely in her arms.

"You know there are more places than Fiore, there are plenty of names that are uncommon in Fiore but are heavily used overseas." Lucy huffed good naturedly. Bickslow nodded and waved, noticing the children falling back asleep, he crept out the door.

"Juvia will be back." She whispered as she followed Bickslow. "Bickslow and Juvia love Lucy." And with that the door shut.

In the hall the two mages side hugged, walking to their own room. "Those kids are really cute." Bickslow admitted.

"Juvia knows." She hugs her boyfriend properly, grinning up at him as they fall onto the comforter, all but sinking into it. "Juvia loves Bickslow. Truly." She nuzzled his chest, taking in his scent. She loved his smell, she loved everything about him. Bickslow was Juvia's person, she had decided the day she realized she loved him. It took her a few weeks after they found each other amidst the chaotic new world for her to confess to him, which he took time to process before giving her the chance that she never got with Gray. Bickslow grew to love her the way she needed to loved, Juvia's heart couldn't be fuller.

"Bickslow knows." He says as he pulls her up to him, turning them on their sides, facing each other face to face. He gazed into her familiar blue eyes, they were usually wild, like a storm in the middle of the ocean, a violent, havoc wreaking natural disaster, he loved that side of her. But in that moment her eyes were calm, glimmering at him in a way that he knew she only would for him. They reminded him of the sun reflecting off of slow water trickling through a brook, she only calmed like this for him.

Juvia closed her eyes, moving closer to Bickslow, obviously with the intention of falling into a deep sleep. Bickslow pulled the edges of their comforter up over them, wrapping them in a cozy cocoon, before he closed his own eyes, his nose buried in Juvia's hair.

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Cana's POV

I wake up with an arm stretched over my back and my leg sprawled over a mystery leg. Opening my eyes I know it's just Rogue. I extract myself from the tangle and pad over to the kitchen, not very much leftover food. I wake Rogue, "I'm gonna go get more food, for breakfast." He grunts and rolled over to spread out over the entire couch mattress.

Shutting the door behind me I wander the hall, not exactly able to recall where the stairs were. Soon enough I found a door at the end of the corridor, by the window that provided a great view of the city, featuring the stadium. The stairwell smelled like musty feet and gore but I continued down, past the decayed bodies and forgotten possessions. I see a faded yellow backpack in a corner of the stairwell between the third and fourth floors. It reminds me of Laxus.

I wonder how he's doing without me. He marked me as his mate almost a year ago, it didn't affect me very much, I don't have dragon abilities or instincts. I knew it was a big deal for Laxus though, all the dragonslayers thought mating was a sacred thing. After the fight, Laxus and I were the only couple broken apart, Gray and Natsu agreed and got to stay together, Yukino and Erik left us together, and Laxus made his point to leave me behind. Because he was stubborn and he gave up on Lucy. She's a survivor, and he gave up on her. So I'm trying to give up on him, i thought he might find us, and come crawling back, but so far there's no sign of him. Without me, I'm sure his physical and mental health are deteriorating. I miss him. But I'll get over it. At least he's not dead.. yet.. his impaired state of being without his mate leaves him vulnerable. I doubt he'll make it longer than two months without me. I want to be with him. He was there for me when my withdrawal ran its course, this is a little like that. We both hurt ourselves, and needed each other to survive, but this time we're apart. I know he needs me. And I love him. But I thought he was more loyal than to abandon our search for Lucy. It'll be okay, he'll find me, hopefully, and I'll find Lucy, hopefully, and everyone will be together again.

Wandering the streets without a dragonslayer's nose proved to be quite a pain, I'd turn down an alley and turn into a dead end. One of many strange things I noticed was all the smoking corpses, i mean I know civilization has collapsed and it's an apocalypse or whatever but there must be hundreds of burning bodies out on the street. I would follow the trail but I'm almost afraid to see who or what did that damage.

As I'm trying to find a grocery store that hasn't all spoiled or been cleared out completely, something wet lands on my forehead. Suddenly rain pelts my head and shoulders, it's stronger than I remember rain being. Maybe it's Juvia, I hope it is, that would mean we're close, but I can't afford to be that optimistic, I'm sure it's just regular, totally not magically triggered, rain.

I stand in the rain before the discomfort pulls me from my thoughts, I take cover under the colorful canopy of a bakery table umbrella, taking a seat on a cool metal chair.

I must be quite a sight, some bruised, scrappy woman sitting in the middle of corpses and chaos looking like someone on vacation. I watch the smoke from the bodies halt after the water fizzles out the burning. Burning… Natsu? I look around puzzled. I'm suddenly 100% sure that the fire dragonslayer has been out on the same path as I'm currently on.

I would stand and follow the trail of singed and sullied corpses, but watching the sudden downpour calms me in a way I haven't been in months. I hum a slow song to myself, watching the water pitter patter down the street, hearing it assaulting the umbrella above me. Like this I could easily be lulled to sleep. Storms always remind me of him. I can't stand him. I can't believe him. I love him.

I'm in no mood to enjoy the weather any longer, I stand and trudge out into the rain, flinching at first from the cool water sliding down my skin, but I kept walking, wherever Natsu was going, he was onto something good, I just know it.

The trail of charred bodies goes for at least a mile before I remember my original mission, to acquire breakfast for the pack, which I had abandoned 50 minutes ago. "Shit-" I hiss into the rain-filled air. As much as I want to find Natsu, and by association if my gut feeling is right, Lucy, I need to return before they all worry about us. Besides, if and when Natsu finds anything he'll come get us and let us know, it's the upside to him having the intelligence of a lapdog, he was just as loyal and persevering as one. I turn back the way we(I guess I should say I since we came separately) came, I can still see the apartment our comrades are cooped up in. I make my way back, taking my sweet time to keep an eye for any possible food opportunities the whole way to our temporary home.


	37. Let's a go Mario frfr

Hey guys,

I got a review from an anon and it was made clear to me that I should edit the story. Since this was my first fanfic, I wasn't sure who I wanted Lucy to end with, so I tried to keep as many options open as possible, accidentally creating a harem situation. No serious plot changes will be occurring, just some cutting and editing of certain unnecessary sentences.

Also, to the reviewer, lol I **do** have a metaphoric hard on for Lucy, deal with it.

I am just letting you all know, I have updated the entire texts.


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